“PIECES OF US” featuring Selections from Dameon & Kim Fisher
This exhibit showcases the heartfelt dedication of Dameon and Kimberly Fisher as they pour themselves into their roles as ‘cultural caretakers’ for the work of Southern Black artists. This powerful exhibit invites you to explore artworks from their collection, emphasizing the importance of preserving and uplifting Black heritage, especially within Atlanta's vibrant cultural landscape. 

Join us for the opening reception to honor this inspiring collection and the stories it holds—register now to be part of this special celebration!

Atlanta, Georgia

November 13, 2024 | 6pm-8pm | ADAMA, 352 University Ave SW, Atlanta, GA 30310

In Atlanta, Alicia Knock will be in conversation at ADAMA (African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta) alongside Cheryl Finley, Art Historian with Spelman College & Director of the Atlanta University Center Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective, and Fahamu Pecou, Founding Director of ADAMA.

In addition, Alicia Knock will meet with important actors working to promote and archive Black and African American art, including Melissa Messina of the Mildred Thompson Estate and the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives & Rare Book Library at Emory University.

EP #56 | Sunday, November 10th featuring Jon Goode in conversation with Lia Bascomb.  

ADAMA Arts Salon is a series of conversations featuring contemporary artists, curators, scholars, and more from across the African Diaspora.

Join us for ADAMA's upcoming in-person Arts Salon. Lia Bascomb to moderate a conversation with artist Jon Goode. The conversation will dive into Jon's new book Black Curio. Black Curio is a collection of short stories that live in the now, the not-so-distant past, and the far-flung future of the Black experience. It's filled with true stories from private spaces and public transit, almost true stories from office buildings and chess parks, and imagined realities from worlds not yet born. There will be moments that will make you smile, make you laugh, make you cry, and hopefully make you sit, examine, and reflect.

Feel free to read Black Curio prior to the Salon date! To purchase the paperback search Black Curio Jon Goode on Amazon or purchase the PDF version on Jon Goode's website. 

ADAMA Arts Salon | Ep #56

November 10, 2023

2-3 pm EST

Register to attend in person or virtually! The live stream link will be sent to all RSVPs via email.  

EP #55 | Sunday, October 20th featuring Shanequa Gay in conversation with Jasmine Wilson.  

ADAMA Arts Salon is a series of conversations featuring contemporary artists, curators, scholars, and more from across the African Diaspora.

Join us for ADAMA's upcoming in-person Arts Salon. Jasmine Wilson to moderate a conversation with artist Shanequa Gay. The conversation will dive into Shenqua's artistic practice, and explore the themes of artistic expression, centering Blackness, postcolonialism, and healing in relation to the American South and African communities.    

About Moderator: Jasmine Wilson is a sound healer, curator, and writer from Atlanta, GA. Using African aesthetics as her primary framework, Jasmine’s practice explores the relationship between visual art and healing. Her interests include highlighting the physical and metaphysical significance of artwork within her writing and curatorial projects, while revealing the ways that art can influence our consciousness. With over six years of experience working in the art and cultural sector, Jasmine has held art administration and curatorial positions at the High Museum of Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, AUC Art History & Curatorial Studies Collective at Spelman College, and the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. Her writings have appeared in Sugarcane Magazine, Contemporary And, and Burnaway, among others. Jasmine has mentored emerging writers as a workshop leader and tutor for the global art magazine, Contemporary And. In 2022, Jasmine earned her MA in African American Studies from Clark Atlanta University, where she completed her thesis, “The African Symbolism of Simone Leigh’s Brick House Sculpture.” Jasmine holds a BA in English with Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude honors from Howard University.

Shanequa Gay:  Gay exhibits her works and procures residencies within the United States, Europe, Japan, and South Africa. She is a Do-Good Fellow recipient, an Emory University Arts and Social Justice Fellow, (2020) a Hudgens Prize Finalist (2022), the first Inaugural Visual Artist-in-Residence at Oglethorpe University, 2022-23 and is one of five Georgia Women to Watch selected by the Georgia Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (2023). Gay’s exhibitions include four womxn, Museum of Fine Arts Boston (2024); New Worlds: Georgia Women to Watch, Atlanta Contemporary (2023), the European Cultural Centre Personal Structures-REFLECTION, 59th Venice Biennale (2022); Atlanta Biennial, Atlanta Contemporary (2021); Le Monde Bossale: Af-Flux – Transnational Black Biennial, Art Mûr Galerie (2021); and Holding Space for Nobility: A Memorial for Breonna Taylor, Ackland Museum, Chapel Hill North Carolina (2020).

EP #54 | Sunday, October 6th featuring Errin Haines in conversation with Nandos Art Collection Artists.  

ADAMA Arts Salon is a series of conversations featuring contemporary artists, curators, scholars, and more from across the African Diaspora.

Join us for ADAMA's upcoming in-person Arts Salon. Errin Haines to moderate a conversation with artist Sam Nhlengethwa, Diane Victor and Mbongeni Buthelezi. Each panelist is a visiting artist from South Africa whose artworks are included in ADAMA's exhibition, If You Look Hard Enough, You Can See Our Future.

In addition to the Arts Salon episode you will also be able to enjoy South African music, brunch catered by Nandos and a curator led tour.    

About Moderator: Errin Haines is editor at large and a founding mother of The 19th, a nonprofit, independent newsroom focused on the intersection of gender, politics and policy. She is also host of The 19th’s weekly politics podcast, The Amendment, and an MSNBC Contributor. Errin was previously national writer on race and ethnicity for The Associated Press. She has also worked at The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Orlando Sentinel. Errin’s expertise on issues of race, gender and politics make her a thought leader in her industry. She has also taught at the Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Princeton University. She is based in Atlanta.

Sam Nhlengethwa: Sam's work is largely figurative and explores themes close to his heart like jazz, human interactions, and contemporary Africa. His fine sense of colour and form lend an abstract quality to his work, which has been included in many contemporary South African art publications and can be found in leading South African and International collections. He is one of South Africa’s foremost artists and was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year in 1994 – the year South Africa held its first democratic elections. He has exhibited all over the world – from South Africa to Senegal, New York to Cologne. Despite Sam’s pioneering role in South African art, his work has received rare visibility in Europe. A major survey exhibition, titled Life, Jazz and Lots of Other Things, was hosted by SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia in 2014, which was then co-hosted in Atlanta by SCAD and the Carter Center. His work has also featured on a number of international biennales. 

Diane Victor: Is renowned for her expert printmaking and draughtsmanship. Victor positions herself within the South African context through bold confrontations with difficult and, at times, taboo subject matter. Her large scale drawings and etchings demonstrate a command of mark-making, which she uses to render her subjects in affecting detail. Her work poses challenges to social and political life in contemporary South Africa, considering issues of corruption, violence and an unequal power distribution. She has gone on to win various prestigious awards including the Sasol New Signatures Award in 1987. In 1988, Victor became the youngest recipient of the Volkskas Atelier Award. Victor has exhibited at numerous venues around South Africa and internationally and her work is part of a number of important collections.

Mbongeni Buthelezi: Known for his plastic painting and environmental themes, Mbongeni repurposes plastic for use in his artwork in an effort to minimise pollution, and to raise awareness of the dangers of single use plastic that ends up in oceans and landfills. He uses different techniques to melt the plastic and then applies it to a recycled canvas to create vivid, striking abstract artworks or depictions of animals. The use of these materials shows Buthelezi's awareness of environmental problems and the physical decay of the townships as well as the references to general social and political impoverishment and flaw of opportunities and alternatives that he observes in South Africa. His works have been exhibited internationally at solo and group exhibitions, including the Museum of African Art in New York, the Goch Museum in Germany as well as the Prague Biennale. He was also an artist in residence in Germany, South Africa and New York.

We are excited to celebrate the closing of Atlanta Art Week and the Atlanta Art Fair with “A Day at ADAMA” giving the public and patrons an exciting opportunity to explore the exhibition “If You Look Hard Enough, You Can See Our Future” with works of Nando’s Art Collection. This day will start with a celebratory brunch catered by Nando’s, where guests will also be able to enjoy chicken and waffles, mimosas, and South African music from 11 - 1 p.m. Then guests will be invited to tour the exhibition with the curator Laurie Ann Farrell available to answer any questions they may have from 1 - 2 p.m. Finally, the day will conclude with a thrilling panel discussion with three visiting South African artists whose work is in the exhibition, Sam Nhlengethwa, Diane Victor, and Mbongeni Buthelizi moderated by 19th News Editor-at-Large and MSNBC Contributor, Errin Haines. 

Time: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Place: African Diaspora Art Museum, Atlanta at Pittsburgh Yards

352 University Ave SW, Atlanta, GA 30310

Schedule

Brunch 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Arts Salon 2 p.m. -3 p.m.

EP #53 | Sunday, September 29th featuring Jamele Wright Sr. in conversation with Halima Taha.  

ADAMA Arts Salon is a series of conversations featuring contemporary artists, curators, scholars, and more from across the African Diaspora.

Join us for ADAMA's upcoming in-person Arts Salon. Halima Taha to moderate a conversation with artist Jamele Wright Sr. The conversation will dive into Jamele's artisitc practice and center the American South and African artistic relations.    

 About Moderator: Halima Taha is best known for her groundbreaking bestseller, Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas, the first book to validate the collection of fine art, printmaking, and photography by Americans of African descent as viable assets and commodities within the art market. In addition, her extensive expertise laid the groundwork for building and educating worldwide markets in conjunction with the historic National Black Fine Art Show (1997-2009). Her work catalyzed prominent museums to pursue African-American art collections for exhibition and acquisition within the first two decades of this century. Taha is an art professional and tireless advocate for artists and Black visual culture; her curatorial, art advisory, and strategic planning develop corporate and not-for-profit programs and audiences. Halima is committed to nurturing the development, documentation, and acquisition of contemporary visual culture as a professional speaker, curator, and arts writer. Currently she is the artistic chair of the Hammonds House Museum and a content specialist for the Getty Research Institute's Oral History Project in conjunction with UC Berkeley. Halima currently serves on the boards of the Brandywine Workshop & Archive and the Clara Elizabeth Jackson Carter Foundation. She is an Advisor for the Calabar Artist Residences at Colab Arts, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA Studios), and the Ntozake Shange Trust.

Jamele Wright Sr: Born and raised in Ohio, at the age of 22 Jamele Wright, Sr. moved with his family to Atlanta, Georgia. While raising a family Jamele produced art, jazz, and poetry events throughout Atlanta. Realizing that there were many young artists not being represented he started a gallery called Neo Renaissance Art House. After curating the gallery for over a year Jamele was inspired to pursue his own artistic career. After a few solo and group exhibitions Mr. Wright graduated from Georgia State University with a B.A. in Art History. He concentrated on African and African American Contemporary Art. Jamele graduated with Master of Fine Art from School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, New York. He completed a residency at MASS MoCA, Golden Foundation, and Vermont Studio Center as well as artist in resident at Gibbes Museum, Charleston, SC. He currently maintains his practice in Atlanta, Georgia.  

Experience the incredible exhibition "If You Can Look Hard Enough, You Can See Our Future" at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA), featuring masterworks from Southern Africa curated from Nando’s world-renowned art collection. Open to the public from September 20 through November 2, this exhibition showcases renowned artists like Zanele Muholi and William Kentridge. Don't miss this unique opportunity to explore the rich cultural expressions of the African diaspora right here in Atlanta. Visit us Thursday through Saturday from Noon to 5 p.m. for an inspiring experience.

Join us for the opening reception of the highly anticipated exhibition "If You Can Look Hard Enough, You Can See Our Future" at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) on Friday, September 20th at 7:00 p.m. Be among the first to experience extraordinary contemporary art from Southern Africa, curated from Nando’s renowned collection. This exclusive event offers a chance to engage with featured artists and celebrate the power of art within the African diaspora. Don’t miss out on this inspiring evening—RSVP now!

EP #52 | Sunday, September 15th featuring Selorm Attikpo (SelormJay) in conversation with Joycelyn Wilson.  

ADAMA Arts Salon is a series of conversations featuring contemporary artists, curators, scholars, and more from across the African Diaspora.

Join us for ADAMA's upcoming in-person Arts Salon. Joycelyn Wilson to moderate a conversation with artist and hip hop archivist Selorm Attikpo (SelormJay). The conversation will center around the African and diasporic hip hop scene with a special focus on the American South and Ghana.                                                                                       

About Moderator: Joycelyn Wilson is an integrative curriculum designer, cultural studies educator, and faculty of Hip Hop Studies and Digital Media at Georgia Tech. She is the founder of the HipHop2020 Innovation Archive, an ed-tech start-up inspired by hip hop culture's intersections with the art of teaching and learning. Wilson has contributed commentary to MSBNC, Netflix's Hip Hop Evolution, VH1's ATL Rise, and TV-One's UnSung. Her work, currently, sits at the intersection of education and cultural politics, with an emphasis on the critical design natures of Black music, performance, and maker culture - as impacted by hip hop in the American South. 

Selorm Attikpo (SelormJay): As a freelance, self-taught photographer, filmmaker, Archivist and producer based in Ghana and France, Selorm documented the hip hop scene in Accra and internationally for over a decade. Selorm is the Founder and Creatove Director of yoyo tinz, an organization that promotes, archives and develops hip hop culture in Africa and organized Ghana’s first hip hop festival in 2018. He continues to build strong relationships with recording artists and provides consitent advising services. 

Join Ain Heath Drew for an early-access launch party for AYO’S ADVENTURE: ACROSS THE AFRICAN DIASPORA FROM AFRO TO ZULU.

About the Book: Ayo takes an imaginative journey around the globe to discover the beauty and resilience of the African diaspora.

Children and their grownups are invited to view beautiful artwork from the book, enjoy sweet treats, create a craft with Xploration Theatre (HOME | Xploration Theatre), mingle with other readers, and purchase a copy of AYO’S ADVENTURE before its official launch date!

More Information: Ayo's Adventure | Ages 5-10 years | Barefoot Books

Join us on Friday, August 30, at 7pm for a performance art by Masela Nkolo featuring Okori Johnson in the ADAMA Gallery at Pittsburgh Yards.  ⁠

The “Ubuntu, Ki Zoba Zoba project” is a celebration that transcends art. It’s an acknowledgement of humanity and a testament to the transformative power of creativity. Together, let's honor our shared humanity and inspire positive change.