The inaugural Atlanta Artwork Truthful came about in October of 2024. (Picture courtesy of AMP)
The Atlanta Artwork Truthful (AAF) is ready to return to Pullman Yards from September 25 to September 28. Although nonetheless a number of months away, the planning for this yr’s version is properly underway. A part of the method includes choosing this yr’s visitor curator.
In its inaugural version, the AAF hosted 60 galleries, had an advisory board of native arts professionals, created a number of cultural partnerships who got a sales space within the honest and welcomed 3,000 guests to Pullman Yards on opening evening alone. The occasion was properly acquired and garnered nationwide and worldwide consideration from The Artwork Newspaper, Vainness Truthful, Artsy and Hyperallergic, amongst others.
On Might 9, AAF introduced that Melissa Messina — curator of the Mildred Thompson Property — has chosen three feminine artists to create particular installations for the honest later this yr: Sonya Yong James, Vadis Turner and Krista Clark.
The distinguished place of visitor curator for AAF is unquestionably extremely coveted and auspicious, with the chosen particular person changing into an integral a part of the inventive imaginative and prescient for the Truthful. Messina has a long time of expertise as a curator, but I couldn’t assist however marvel: Is she the best possible alternative for the job?
Messina has a protracted historical past in arts administration. As seen in her bio on the Mildred Thompson web site, Messina beforehand held roles because the senior curator on the Savannah Faculty of Artwork and Design and the nationwide program director for ArtTable, amongst different prestigious positions. Her profession is illustrious and she or he is well-vetted. In my analysis, I seen many similarities between her profession and the profession of the earlier yr’s curators: Karen Comer Lowe and Lauren Jackson Harris.
For the final three years, Lowe has served as curator-in-residence on the Spelman Faculty Museum of Effective Artwork. In response to her web site, previous to working at Spelman, she held directorial and curatorial roles at organizations such because the Smithsonian Establishment’s Nationwide Portrait Gallery, the Tubman Museum of African American Artwork and the Whitney Museum of American Artwork.
Harris, then again, at the moment operates as an unbiased curator. In her profession, she has served as curator of ZuCot Gallery, labored with the Atlanta College Heart Artwork Historical past + Curatorial Research Collective — a program that prepares undergraduates for careers within the visible arts — and, in 2019, co-founded Black Girls in Visible Artwork, a corporation that connects, cultivates and serves Black arts professionals.
So right here we have now three eminent curators, every with nationwide careers and native roots — the hanging similarity which made me query Messina’s appointment. With the Truthful solely in its second version, is it already falling right into a components? I puzzled: Why not use the visitor curator place to ask extra experimentation or usher in exterior voices? The reply turned clear throughout an interview with Kelly Freeman, director of Artwork Market Productions, which produces the AAF.
Instantly following the conclusion of the primary version of the AAF, Freeman stated that she started assessing the success of the Truthful. “Immediately, we would have liked to return to the group and begin asking questions. What can we do higher? How can we do higher? How can we begin doing higher proper now?”
This dedication to group, making certain that the AAF isn’t just an occasion that occurs in Atlanta however with Atlanta, is a throughline within the Truthful’s group and execution, as seen within the quite a few collaborations it strikes with group companions.
One other advantage of the second yr is that you’ve got the primary yr’s members as sources of data. It’s by fixed inquiry and session of native arts leaders that Messina’s title was added to the listing of doable curators. Past that, as Freeman describes, it was merely a matter of tapering down — who had the provision, who had the curiosity, and many others — a course of which finally landed upon Messina.
Though maybe not essentially the most glamorous course of, listening to Freeman describe the reasoning for Messina’s appointment deepened my religion within the AAF. Messina comes into this function as somebody who’s universally accepted by Atlantans. With out the local people’s assist, Messina wouldn’t have even been thought of.
Finally, that’s what Messina’s appointment indicators to me: The Atlanta Artwork Truthful intends to all the time be firstly about celebrating and uplifting Atlanta. And isn’t that all the pieces we may actually ask for?
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Leia Genis is a trans artist and author at the moment based mostly in Atlanta. Her writing has been revealed in Hyperallergic, Frieze, Burnaway, Artwork Papers and Quantity: Inc. journal. Genis is a graduate of the Savannah Faculty of Artwork and Design and can be an avid bicycle owner with a contest historical past on the nationwide stage.
