North Carolina resident Jeff Marley, known as the 2014 “Appalachia Here and Now” artist, explores Native American identity, with a focus on Colonialism as a complex web of oppressive systems that has subjugated Native cultures.

He will attend a closing reception at 5 p.m. today in the Bob Owens Art Gallery on the University of North Georgia campus in Dahlonega.

Marley addresses issues of race, identity and culture through a variety of media, including installation, performance, painting and video.

He received his bachelor of fine arts in painting and drawing from Western Carolina University, and his master’s degree from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier. He is the Heritage Arts Department Chair at Southwestern Community College in Sylva, N.C. In 2013, he received an Art Fellowship from Sequoyah National Research Center at the University of Arkansas.

For more about Marley’s work, visit www.jeffmarley.com.