Willful Miscommunication

Created by students in the Enlivened Spaces class at the University of North Florida in response to Nari Ward’s Great Greetings exhibition in the Atrium, Willful Miscommunication: An Exquisite Collaboration draws from similar materials such as the gold-and-silver emergency blankets and newspaper to explore topics of communication, conversation, and how a lack of understanding results in division. The exhibition presents three-dimensional forms placed throughout the lobby. The students were inspired by the Surrealist game of the Exquisite Corpse, in which participants, passing around a sheet of paper, add upon concealed drawings and words to create a composite artwork. Much like a game of telephone, each three-dimensional figure in the exhibition generates conversation with the figures around it, its own compound body, and visitors who share the space. The materials, taken beyond their initial purposes, speak to acts of dialogue in which meaning and understanding are in flux. The metallic silver of the blankets, for instance, acts as a reflection of self and others who exist in the space, gesturing to the role of communication and identity. Made up of such charged materials, the composite figures—presenting different parts of themselves—speak to both individual expression, conformity, concealment, and the strength to be found through community.

The exhibition was created by the Enlivened Spaces class in the UNF Department of Art, Art History, and Design, part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Works were developed by Sculpture Seniors under the direction of Visiting Instructor Aisling Millar McDonald. 

STUDENT ARTISTS

Emily Bailey, Melanie Berends, Maya Bird, Kaliyah Chance, Matthew Green, Carter Mangle, Heaven Marshall, Sophia McGahuey, Kazuki Rocha, Kayla Sumner, Matthew Szostek, Madelyn Trythall, and Hanna Vickers.

Join us for the opening celebration on May 6, 2026 during Art Walk.