Surreal Escape
Taught by JR Pepper
JR Pepper is a lecturer, photographer and self described 'professional eccentric'. She holds both a BA and an MA in art history specializing in Surrealism and spirit photography. Her artwork has been seen in various gallery shows and publications including Haunted America: FAQ by Dave Thompson, Vice.com and Musee Magazine. She has spoken at Long Island Convention of Horror, New York Comic Con, Tokyo in Tulsa, The Morbid Anatomy Museum, The Odd Salon, The Dead Ladies Show, Lectures on Tap and is an adjunct art history professor at Brooklyn College. She currently works as digital imaging specialist at The Burns Archive and is a tour guide at Green-Wood Cemetery. Her book Buried Boston: America's Revolutionary Necropolis, documenting Boston's burying ground and cemeteries was released Halloween 2024 and she is currently working on her next publication on the cemeteries of New Orleans.
image credit: Bill Wadman
The Surrealist art movement takes place in a perilous time in history- acting as a response to The Great War, and having to escape because of the impending Second World War.
As a result of the Nazi persecution, and being labeled as ‘degenerate artists’, many of the Surrealists artists, writers and founders were forced to leave their homes hastily behind. They seek out asylum in Mexico and the United States. In this talk, we will explore several of these artists and how their work and lives responded to the threat of World War II.
