Mississippi Expat: Michael Ross

"Good art is something you can come back to at different times of life and experience it differently. I think coming back to Mississippi is the same."

What does it mean to call Mississippi home? Why do people choose to leave or live in this weird, wonderful, and sometimes infuriating place? Born and raised in Laurel, Mississippi, Michael Ross lived for over thirty years in San Francisco where he honed his artistic style and showed his work in venues throughout the bay area. After returning home to Mississippi, Michael moved to Key West, Florida, for a new career opportunity. His paintings and sculptures explore how we influence the places that we call home, just as they influence us. Today, Michael shares how he has come to appreciate his “Southern-ness” as someone who no longer lives in the Deep South.

Michael Ross was born in Laurel and now lives in Key West, Florida.

Where are you from?

I was born in Laurel where I attended elementary school and later graduated high school. My Mississippi educational experience continued at Jones County Community College and later at Ole Miss. 

When did you move to Key West, Florida, and why did you move there?

I moved to Key West in 2022 when another artist friend told me of an opening at The Studios of Key West. They were looking for a director of their exhibitions and education programs. I had been back in Laurel for a while, and I felt it was an exciting opportunity. 

What does “home” mean to you? How does Mississippi fit into that definition?

Home at this point means connection to my own history. Mississippi is very literally connected to my family here. There is a sense of culture that is still fundamental to me. As I go and experience life in other places, home means literal relatives and, more abstractly, culture.

Michael in a quilt that was displayed in a 2023 solo exhibition at the Studios of Key West titled “House Quilts: The Energy that Speaks of Home.” The exhibition featured a series of handmade fabric quilts that take the shape of houses, which hang and suspend from the ceiling. Each of these hanging quilted houses was designed with cords that can be cinched to transform them into capes or cloaks.

What do you miss most about Mississippi?

It’s going to sound like I’m repeating myself, but it is family. I miss my immediate relatives especially. I am the eighth of eight siblings, four boys and four girls.

How have you cultivated community in Key West? Do you still feel rooted to Mississippi?

Art is how I experience and take part in the Key West community. I’m the Director of Exhibitions and Education at The Studios of Key West, and it is through my work that I connect with other artists here. It is a big arts community. There are many art workshops taught here, and I coordinate and set them up as part of the exhibitions. 

I do still feel rooted to Mississippi though I’d lived in several different parts of the country since graduating from Ole Miss in 1984. I essentially left the state after college to continue my studies at Northern Illinois University where I earned my M.A. in 1987. I moved again and lived, worked, and produced my art in San Francisco for almost thirty years before returning home in 2017. I reconnected to Mississippi as a middle-aged man. Living in the state was a different type of existence than what I experienced in my twenties and younger days. However, good art is something you can come back to at different times of life and experience it differently. I think coming back to Mississippi is the same.