Amy Sherald, a Columbus native, has chosen the High Museum of Art Atlanta as the final stop of her four-city “American Sublime” tour. As her largest display of works ranging throughout her career, this exhibition features several globally recognized pieces like of Breonna Taylor and Michelle Obama, plus rarely-viewed early works of grey-toned figures.
Painting the epitome of American life, Sherald approached this body of work with a reflective lens on the homeland typically observed through a Caucasian-American veil. Her monochromatic style of choice, grisaille, strips her subjects of bias while captured in simple moments of their daily lives.
“While Amy and her work have been present in Atlanta for many years, this will be the first opportunity to engage with the full measure of her practice,” said the High’s Director Rand Suffolk. “We are really proud to share that with Atlanta while celebrating an artist whose work so strongly resonated with our community,” he added.
American Core
For years, Sherald has analyzed American culture and who it chooses to project or represent it. With the use of grisaille, a paint technique that only uses grays, blacks, and whites, she bluntly challenges that representation. Her practice places African American figures in traditionally American places or activities; at work, by the pool, or on the playground. She approaches the thought of who or what people get to tell those stories in these simple moments. Sherald’s iconographies resurface the diversity of a true America.
Planes, Rockets, and the Spaces in Between, 2018
Kingdom, 2022
As mentioned, the exhibition contemporarily features both former First Lady, Michelle Obama and Miss Breonna Taylor’s portraits, not only as a way to further cement them into American history, but also to aureate their inner simplicity.
“I’m also thinking about all the young people–particularly girls and girls of color–who in years ahead will come to this place and they will look up and they will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall of this great American institution. I know the kind of impact that will have on their lives, because I was one of those girls,” she said.
Circling back to Atlanta as the final stop for her exhibition, “American Sublime” debut in 2024 by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), then moved to the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Baltimore Museum of Art before making its way to Sherald’s home state of Georgia.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, 2018
“Bringing American Sublime to the High Museum is exciting because it is where my story began as a young art student in Columbus, Georgia,” said the artist. “As a former Atlantan, I’m looking forward to returning to celebrate the cultural and artistic power that is born in this city,” she added.
Visitors can view “American Sublime” at The High Museum of Art from May 15th – September 27th of this year and can find more information for their visit online.
Image Credits Header: Kevin Bulluck
Portrait images are compliments of The High Museum of Art Atlanta
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“You can’t talk about birth without talking about God; and God is a Black Woman.”
On the first weekend of May, Atlanta contemporary artist, Dr. Fahamu Pecou, debuted God Snapped When She Made Water… And Black Women during the city’s “Original First Saturday Art Walk” at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans.
Birthed from his mother’s love, this body of work explores the appreciation and understanding of the Black Women as the building block of human existence. The declaration that She, like water, is an essential element that bends, nurtures, and replenishes.
In this exhibition, Pecou circles back to a pre-pandemic idea that had original intentions for Lyons Wier Gallery, but was intercepted by COVID19 and, in 2025, an opportunity for EXPO Chicago. A few pieces from God Snapped debuted in Chicago, but the overall concept and tribute to his mother was incomplete, until now.
“Word to the Motha” 2025
“Queen with the Crown” 2025
Digging back into his research and development, Pecou finds ways to marry previous works with fresh paint. Despite the lapse of time, God Snapped is taking on a newer developed identity, as he teases insight into future work.
“I have a new concept now, this sort of mindset that I was going to start for this show, but didn’t feel like I had enough time to really flesh it out,” said Pecou. “Then I realized that I never really did the ‘God Snapped’ show, so I wanted to bring that to its full realization,” he added.
Works
The Fly Girl Whisk
These pieces are resin-cast figures sitting a-top bundles of human and/or synthetic hair representing prominent, Black female icons. Their meanings are beaded, woven, and demand attention to the cultural diversity of Black women. Pecou braids this concept into the show by exploring hair as identity and a form of individualism. In his publishing of “Fly Girl:” in The Re/Write, he mentions Black women’s use of bonnets and head coverings that are rooted in their own historical significance.
“Fly Girl Whisk: Venus Williams 2026”
“Fly Girl Whisk: Angela Davis 2026”
“Fly Girl Whisk: Beyonce 2026”
In 1786 New Orleans, the Tignon Laws were passed to force Black women to cover their hair with wraps called tignons. It was a systematic way to strip them of their cultural identity. In response to these new rules, Black women transformed these wraps into elaborate icons of expression adorned with patterns and textures. They’d set a trend that is still alive today.
“I think New Orleans is a very special place where the magic and power of Black Women is known and understood, it’s just not often stated,” said Pecou. “It gets co-opted by others, but we know what it is,” he added.
Two hundred and forty years ago, Black women’s hair was suppressed. Today, it’s liberated. The pieces in God Snapped, by design, are tignon-free.
Style
Pecou’s style is consistent throughout his work and in this exhibition. Easily identifiable themes include the use of cowrie shells, mixed mediums, and 3D elements. These themes are deeply connected to Blackness and God Snapped brings diasporic femininity to the forefront.
Cowrie shells once held trade power throughout Africa, Asia, and Oceania dating back as early as the 14th century. They are microbeacons of currency sprinkled throughout the entire diaspora and Pecou bears the same respect. This reality is obvious in Well Fared Queen, where the subject carries a transparent purse filled with the shells as a couponed cloth is pictured as her train.
“‘Well Fared Queen’ is an obvious kick in the nuts to this notion of a welfare queen and it being something that’s looked down upon as a way of degrading Black women that may be in poverty. I was raised by these women. I know they make a way when there is no way and more often than not, it is their efforts, ideas, style, tenacity, their gumption that people desire,” said Pecou.
“Well Fared Queen 2026”
At a towering 96 inches tall, this piece was powerful enough for the artist to include the cowrie-filled bag as a standalone sculpture on top of a Bamileke feather wooden stool. This stool also appears in Queen with the Crown, a nod to Pecou’s ability to symbolically migrate elements from one piece to another.
“I wanted to highlight that Black women, in particular, represent the most authentic form of Blackness. Not attempting to be something else, chasing after somebody else’s image or ideal,” said Pecou. “She’s very comfortable in her own being,” he added.
Also to be noted, the mixed use of graphite and acrylic showcases the artist’s versatility in his way of work. The pieces work together to bring texture and dimension into the conversation. Viewers are invited to discover in layers and through a variety of lenses by blending reality and imagination.
Blending The Old, The New & The Future
Although this entire body of workwas interrupted, as previously mentioned, Pecou found ways to blend and pick up on previous ideas to give God Snapped, in his opinion, what she deserved.
“Even though those pieces weren’t new, they’ve always been part of this collection,” said Pecou. “I just allowed myself to go into the references and research the materials that I had stashed away and bring them back out to really flesh out the idea,” he added.
The addition of At Least 2 Pair, Motha, Well Fared Queen, Fly Girl Whisk: Beyonce, Fly Girl Whisk: Solange, Fly Girl Whisk: Venus Williams, and Final Form completed what he’d started years ago and even hinting toward future concepts through the introduction of new visual elements.
During the show’s opening reception, viewers seemed to keep circling back to the Final Form piece with animated gestures and verbal commentary. Visually different from the other paintings, this piece gives viewers more to observe with complimentary components. The use of lush, tropical foliage introduces a sense of Earthiness to the conversation while other symbols spark deeper debate.
“Final Form is an inside joke that a friend of mine and I have. We talk about, if one is to believe in reincarnation, and we come back in different forms every time we return, the epitome, the goal you want to get to, the final form, is a Black Woman,” said Pecou. “This piece is about that concept,” he added.
This painting has much to dissect, but these symbols are easily observed:
A Mask – Although cliche, it’s meaningful and gives the subject transformative implications.
A Golden Swan – An ancient symbol of grace, elegance, and the strongest form of love.
A Pan-African Flag Throw – An unmistakable symbol adopted by the UNIA in 1920 that boasts colors synonymous to identity, and in the case of this piece, Her people
“Final Form 2026”
Final Form displays differently and evokes a softer form of power than the more common stances the artist gives his subjects. There’s a likeness to a classical trope called an Odelisque, which depicts a nude-presenting woman lounging surrounded by other symbols of luxury or femininity. In Pecou’s God Snapped, this is a heavy suggestion of what God, a Black Woman, would be doing at any given time.
“There’s nothing, no one quite like a Black woman. Even without trying, here grace, majesty, and magic is effortless,” said Pecou. “It stops you in your tracks because it is the apex, the goal, the aspiration, so I wanted to capture that feeling in that piece,” he concluded.
During the opening reception, the artist hinted toward an earlier concept that he could have used for this particular exhibition, but put it on reserve. Final Form could be a peek into Pecou’s future where works become more scenic and subjects are observed with more use of imagination.
“This is kind of like the seed breaking ground of a new way of being, thinking and seeing,” said Pecou.
About The Artist
Dr. Fahamu Pecou is an Atlanta-based interdisciplinary artist by way of Brooklyn, New York whose work explores the identity of Blackness through culture, art history, and the African diaspora. He is the founder and Executive Director of the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA).
Find his work online and visit the ADAMA museum in the Pittsburgh community of Atlanta.
Information on the First Saturday Art Walks in New Orleans and their seventeen participating galleries on their website and the Arthur Roger Gallery exhibitions online as well.
Gallery images are compliments of Arthur Roger Gallery.
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After a full year of anticipation, the Atlanta Art Fair hosted its second appearance at Pullman Yards, briskly ushering in Fall 2025.
Over 70 exhibitors and thousands of appreciators flooded the city to reengage with artists, collectors, curators, and works from across the globe.
Building on the inaugural year’s success, 2025’s exposition added a little extra paint to last year’s canvas by growing international interest, diversifying experiences through sensory, and emphasizing the support for home-grown talent. “This second edition of Atlanta Art Fair proved that the city and the region are ready to sustain a fair of this scale and ambition,” said Kelly Freeman, Director of Atlanta Art Fair.
The pendulum continues to swing in favor of sweet, Southern art as it demands attention through a unique language. Among the twenty-seven Atlanta-based galleries that returned to present work this year were the Alan Avery Art Company, Artful ATL, Black Art in America, Day & Night Projects, Dunwoody Gallery, Fay Gold Gallery, Jackson Fine Art, Johnson Lowe Gallery, Marcia Wood Gallery, and Spalding Nix Fine Art.
This year’s line up of public projects also showed impressively. T.W. Pilar’s Living Archive, File 00commands conversation about human and environmental cohabitation. Each structure encapsules living, organic greenery inside industrial materials visually displaying our coexistence, and suggesting that beauty and destruction can live in the same space. The Atlanta-based artist is self-taught and explores the juggle of ethics and aesthetics by working with steel, plastics, and living flora to communicate the dance between the two; a dance that resculpts our world.
T.W. Pilar, Living Archive, File 00, Atlanta, 2025. Local fauna, soil, plexiglass, steel 60 x 60 x 10 inches
Through Conversation
The theater discussions and panels from this year’s fair were rich, engaging, and provided a well rounded perspective of artists from various disciplines. Photography As Discovery: Villa Albertine Artists in Residence in Atlanta and Marseille brought Nydia Blas and Joshua Greer, two Atlanta-based photographers, and Yohanne Lamoulére, a Marseille-based photographer together to recap their experiences in opposite, southern cities. Sharing their unique, yet similar, exposure to culture through their own lenses, they discussed ways they grew to understand who and what they were capturing.
“Talks are definitely useful to help people meet the artists,” said Atlanta photographer and documentarian, Susan Ross. “There were a number of artists that had work there who came to the talks. I went to a couple last year, but couldn’t make many this time,” she added.
Some could argue that motherhood is an art in of itself; one that only a margin of populations can experience. The Art And Motherhood panel with Atlanta-based fiber artist, Adana Tillman, Andrea Zieher, co-founder ZieherSmith, Courtney Jewett Bombeck, Founder, CO-OP Art Atlanta, Liz Andrews, Executive Director, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, (moderator), and Atlanta-based artist, Shanequa Gay, explored this special forces that blend together and influence their work. Here, this powerful panel undressed the stereotypes, industry expectations, and relatable sentiments that can, like motherhood, be clingy, distracting, and rewarding all at the same time.
Adana Tillman, Table for Two, 2024, Appliqued found fabrics with hand dyed textiles, embroidery thread, glass beads, paint, 54 x 100 x 1 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Jonathan Carver Moore.
Through Sensory
There’s more than one way to engage with art and using your senses as a multidimensional highway can provide a deeper understanding of whatever you’re experiencing. At the surface level, fair-goers, typically, are expected to engage visually then go about their business. Fortunately for them, this year gave more than met the eye by presenting a number of interactive elements to enhance viewer experience.
One particularly popular piece, ‘DODECAHEDRON‘ by Anthony James for Melissa Morgan Fine Art Gallery, made its way back to Atlanta for another year of “wowing” passersby peering into a multidimensional abyss. As discussed after the inaugural fair, this piece stood out like a thumb dipped in Swarovski.
Although we’ve encountered James’ mirrored prism before, local artists Laila Jhané and Chanel Angeli’s ‘City in a Forest’ also caught viewer attention. Their piece, in conjunction with Fulton County’s Public Art Futures Lab, is inspired by Atlanta’s reputation to have the densest tree canopy in the nation. This project might have been plopped in the furthest corner of the venue, but it still managed to hold a steady line to interact with its blooming, silhouetted features. The entire piece uses technology to merge realities.
“When you think about technology, it can feel so cold and isolated. With partnering with Chanel, we were able to give it life in a way that I don’t think Atlanta’s gotten to see before, said Atlanta-based new media artist, Laila Jhané. “Experimenting on how I could make things bigger, I was using my webcams in a distorted fashion, so that you could only see the silhouette of myself. That’s when I realized two things can tie in together,” she added.
With a slight stretch of the imagination, a line can be drawn between ‘City in a Forest’ and the “Living Archive, File 00’ public project. Both artists encapsulated the human and environmental modern relationship in their works.
Dodecahedron, 2008 -Present STAINLESS STEEL, SPECIALIZED GLASS, LED
‘City in a Forest’ created by artists Laila Jhané and Chanel Angeli
Momentum For Atlanta Fine Art
The second edition of the Atlanta Art Fair attracted over ten thousand people sharing interest in and being within proximity of a swelling fine art scene. Building on last year’s momentum, the fair saw an uptick of local and international galleries, sales, and the debut of the Balentine Art Prize.
Here are a few quick stats…
2024
2025
Attendance
unreported
13,500
Exhibitors
~60
72
Atlanta Galleries
21
27
International Galleries
7
10
Non Returning Atlanta Galleries
nah
13
Non Returning International Galleries
nah
4
Proof of all growing ecosystems equate to more dollar bills in circulation, and in this case, landing in the pockets of local talent. According to post fair reports, sales were strong at the mid-market level, boosting potential for regional fairs driving sales and watering a new generation of collectors. Atlanta-based galleries like Black Women in Visual Art, Day & Night Projects, Fay Gold Gallery, and Spalding Nix, reported strong results.
“This year was very well attended, especially the preview day and held steady traffic throughout the remainder of the weekend,” said Daricia Mia DeMarr, Co-Founder, Black Women in Visual Art. “In our booth, we exhibited 18 works and sold about six pieces. We sold something from each artist and that was really good to pass some success in sales. That’s very important for any fair or institution.” she added.
“There were several pieces that I saw last year that I was hoping to see again this year, and a number of those did show up again,” said Michael Harris, former Hammond’s House Board Member and Art Consultant. “I certainly noticed, like everything else, profits going up. People who were serious probably found things that were interesting and valuable. It was an expensive show,” he added.
One other surprising element showcasing growth was the introduction of the Balentine Prize. From here on, the Balentine Prize will be awarded to an emerging artist exhibiting “exceptional promise” in their work. Artists from Atlanta and the Greater American South are the only candidates eligible for this prize. To set the tone, Caroline Allison’s Book of Hours (Nones) for ZieherSmith Gallery became the very first to take home the new prize.
Pictured are (L to R) Robert Balentine, chairman of Balentine; Balentine Prize recipient Carolina Allison; Mark Bell, Ph.D., partner at Balentine; Scott Zieher and Andrea Smith Zieher of ZieherSmith Gallery, in front of the winning entry, Book of Hours (Nones).
AAF year two stood on the blueprint of a successful opener. Foot traffic increased. Sales increased. Diversity of work increased. The respect and demand for Atlanta in a vibrant, global fine art market?
Boldly Curated Media 