Martha Trethewey is a contemporary artist with a background in the humanities. Her work aspires to both poetry and historical preservation of nature in Appalachia and beyond. Each series - ghostflowers, ghostlace, and ghostlands - attempts to capture the spiritual essence of a temporal moment in the woods or the garden. In keeping with the southern gothic, each ghostseries evokes questions of how decay, time, and morality function in the context of beauty.

With a focus on antique textiles, lacemaking, and analog processes, Martha aims to remove as much digital influence as possible. This resistance serves as an act of protest in a world consumed by immediacy and waste. By working in opposition to current trends of production, elements of chance and imperfection are introduced to final works.

Martha has previously served as a calligrapher-illustrator for fashion and luxury brands. Her clients have included Gucci, Jo Malone, Prada, and more for events at the High Museum of Art, the Norton Museum of Art, and beyond. A formal training in copperplate calligraphy serves as the basis for how she sees lines and form in the natural world.

After years of working and traveling around the world, Martha focuses on scenes found in her garden in Atlanta. She is frequently found traveling through the lowcountry and the mountains, in search of a clearing in the forest to paint.