Contemporary Art in Savannah: Four Bold Voices Redefining the Southern Creative Landscape

Savannah, Georgia isn’t just a city of architectural beauty and reverence, it’s also a vibrant incubator of contemporary art that challenges, surprises, and reimagines the culture of the modern South. Across disciplines like fiber, photography, spray paint, and mixed media, Savannah-based artists are turning tradition on its head and offering radical new visions of what Southern art can be.

At EMROSE projects, we’re proud to support artists creating work capable of shifting conversations. These four creators exemplify how contemporary art can be deeply rooted in place while looking defiantly toward the future.

A former street artist known as PIXNIT, Vanessa Platicis continues to evolve her contemporary practice with refined subversion. Working in spray paint, a medium coded with cultural rebellion, Platicis brings baroque, floral motifs into unexpected formats, from intimate panels to sweeping public murals. Her murals in Savannah’s Hotel Bardo exemplify her ability to compress eras, merging classical design with a contemporary urban edge. In every piece, she offers a layered meditation on art history, ornamentation, and spatial politics. 

Blurring the lines between documentary realism and fine art photography, Anna Ottum’s images hum with quiet emotional intensity. Her portraits of offbeat Americana and overlooked subcultures are intimate and tender. While indisputably ‘of the moment’, she captures the essence of her subjects in such a way that evokes a wistful nostalgia for their viewer. With a visual language that feels equal parts Sofia Coppola and Nan Goldin, Ottum is a storyteller for the contemporary South, capturing transitional moments and deeply human contradictions.

At the crossroads of craft, color theory, and technological innovation stands Trish Andersen, a contemporary fiber artist whose tufted creations feel like both childhood dreams and tactile hallucinations. Her studio work has recently embraced AI as a conceptual and collaborative tool, adding a provocative new layer to her practice. Her use of traditional rug-making techniques, amplified through scale and saturated hues, invokes a visceral joy of making and experiencing contemporary art.

Each of these artists is doing more than making beautiful objects; they’re questioning norms, elevating voices, and pushing mediums forward. They explore issues of identity, ecology, technology, memory, and place with an honesty and curiosity that marks the best of contemporary practice. In a city known for its history, their work is refreshingly now.

EMROSE projects champions work that engages community, sparks dialogue, and deepens cultural resonance. Whether through curated collections, public art programs, or creative placemaking strategies, we believe contemporary art should be a catalyst for transformation.

Feeling inspired by Savannah’s contemporary art scene? Let’s collaborate. EMROSE projects connects collectors, designers and communities  with artists reshaping the Southern aesthetic—one bold idea at a time.