'Back Home Down South' Opens in June at Patton House Gallery

The Patton House & Gallery will open Back Home Down South, a two-person exhibition featuring Mississippi artists Chris Meshel and Brejenn Allen, on Saturday, June 14, 2026. The exhibition runs through July 14 and explores themes of memory, migration, belonging, and the enduring pull of home through painting, mixed media, and visual storytelling. Admission is free and open to the public.

Back Home Down South brings together two distinct but complementary perspectives: one artist who left Mississippi and one who chose to stay. That contrast anchors the exhibition's central inquiry — what does it mean to return, not just to a place, but to oneself? Familiar Southern landscapes, inherited traditions, family histories, and the rhythms of everyday life serve as touchstones for work that is both deeply personal and culturally resonant.

Chris Meshel is a Mississippi-born artist currently based between Barcelona, Spain, and Mississippi. Working across mixed media and installation, Meshel's practice investigates identity, memory, and what it means to carry a place within you long after you've left it. Brejenn Allen is a Mississippi-based visual artist whose work honors the beauty, complexity, and cultural memory of everyday Southern life through painting and mixed media.

Together, the artists trace the emotional and spiritual geography of Mississippi — the tension between leaving and returning, and the many ways people hold onto home throughout their lives.