In an period the place social media, politics, and the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic have left many feeling as remoted as 5 separate fingers, a collective of Atlanta-based artists are aiming to deliver us collectively just like the fist by their artwork.
On Thursday, Might 1, Unifying Us By means of Artwork, introduced by African Individuals For The Arts (AAFTA), opened on the Callanwolde High-quality Arts Middle. That includes works from 36 artists exploring themes of unity, cultural identification, and modern social points.
“As an individual of African American descent, that’s all the time a theme for us,” mentioned Jeanette Barnett, president of AAFTA. “We’re all the time addressing the nation and the way we really feel and the way we match or don’t match, or how we expect we should always match.”
The exhibition represents over six months of planning, in accordance with Barnett, who has led the group for 3 years. She has been a member since 2013.
Among the many artists within the exhibition is Faif Quin, a photographer and filmmaker who joined AAFTA in late 2023. Initially from Manchester, New Hampshire, and the daughter of Liberian immigrants, Quinn brings her perspective rooted in her background and formal coaching in movie at Full Sail College, the place she graduated in 2020.
“I nonetheless make films,” Quinn mentioned. “However I needed to experiment with images. I picked up the digicam to get extra comfy with composition, to inform tales—and I fell in love with it.”
Her work on show, Present a Dwelling for Me, is a part of a photographic sequence titled I At all times Really feel You With Me, and it displays her deeply private journey by non secular disconnection and rediscovery.
“I made it after I was in a very darkish and remoted place,” Quinn defined. “I felt misplaced—disconnected from my spirituality, from folks, from neighborhood. I wanted a approach to articulate what that was and tips on how to discover it once more.”
For Quinn, spirituality—particularly Black spirituality—is a supply of connection and energy. “Black spirituality is, to me, essentially the most highly effective factor on the planet. We discover resilience in our ancestors. We discover God round each nook. It’s not one thing you all the time see, however you’re feeling it, and I needed to seize that.”
She facilities her work in unseen threads that tie folks collectively—religion, instinct, ancestry, and a collective craving for unity. “You possibly can all the time discover house in your spirituality,” she mentioned. “And in that house, you discover fellowship and reference to others.”
Requested what she hopes viewers take away from her work, Quinn mentioned, “I hope they meditate on it, let it resonate. Possibly it helps them reconnect with their spirituality, with folks they’ve misplaced contact with. I hope it stirs a need to be in neighborhood once more. It’s about non secular metamorphosis.”
Every artist within the present approached the theme of unity in their very own means, one thing Barnett emphasised was intentional. “We respect their views as artists,” she mentioned. “You’ll see totally different interpretations of what unity means, and that’s the autonomy we give them.”
One of many collaborating artists, Ok. Pleasure Ballard Peters, has been a member of AAFTA for 5 years. Her piece within the exhibition, titled Touring Buddies, carries private and symbolic that means.
“Throughout a part of COVID, I needed to do some touring, however clearly I couldn’t,” Peters defined. “I used to be additionally instructing a category on the Emma Darnell Aviation Museum, and I had the scholars use main and secondary colours to create vitality in a scene. That’s the place the concept began.”
The piece started life as a pillow in 2022, was later disassembled, matted, and framed. It incorporates printed cloth with the imagery of bags.
As a result of underlying well being considerations, Peters mentioned she went into strict seclusion from 2019 by 2023 to guard herself from COVID. “I wasn’t letting folks in my home, and I wasn’t going out,” she shared. “I did numerous artwork throughout that point.”
Discussing Touring Buddies, Peters shared her hopes for its impression: “I would like them to be enthusiastic about going locations and exploring. I hope they bear in mind joyful moments—perhaps touring with buddies, or perhaps reminiscences of their moms or aunts taking particular journeys collectively.”
AAFTA members meet repeatedly at Hammonds Home Museum, sharing not solely inventive methods but additionally cultural dialogue and neighborhood.
“We’re all the time speaking about our place in the US of America,” Barnett mentioned.
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