Carlos Museum Summer Exhibits (Thursdays)

From the venue:

Together

Selections from the Cochran Collection of African American Art
May 18 - August 4, 2024

Together: Selections from the Cochran Collection of African American Art presents works on paper from the collection of LaGrange, Georgia residents Wesley and Missy Cochran. The collection comprises works created by both prominent and under-recognized African American artists who explore varied narratives, including racial identity, social justice and equality, cultural and individual agency, and abstraction. Artists featured in the collection - Emma Amos, Romare Beardon, Camille Billops, Robert Blackburn, Beverly Buchanan, Elizabeth Catlett, David Driskell, Valerie Maynard, Sam Middleton, Howardena Pindell, Faith Ringgold, Betye and Alison Saar, Alma Thomas, Mildred Thompson, Dox Thrash, and Hale Woodruff, among so many others, whose work dealt with significant social, political, and historical themes from the early 1900s to today.

This exhibition pays particular homage to the relationships and settings that guided the Cochrans as they built their collection, from salons held at Camille Billops’ Soho loft to Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop in Chelsea, both of which were hubs of creative and intellectual engagement, down south to the Grant Park living room of Mildred Thompson, an inimitable and influential Atlanta artist and educator.

Exhibit

Docta

Ndaté Yalla Mbodj, Powerful African Queen and Daughter of Watalantay Nder Defeated Colonization in Senegal
February 5 - December 22, 2024

Senegalese artist and social activist Docta is a pioneer of African graffiti. For more than thirty-five years, he has used the medium to create powerful visual messages that give voice to the oppressed by drawing attention to social inequities, political abuses, and local histories. In this new mural commission, created especially for Emory, Docta depicts Ndaté Yalla Mbodj (c. 1810-1860), the last Lingeer (Queen) of Waalo, one of the four Jolof kingdoms in present-day Senegal. One of the most powerful rulers of Waalo, Ndaté Yalla fought fiercely against French colonization and is regarded as a hero of Senegalese history. Represented in her distinct roles as political arbiter, warrior general, and nurturing mother, she symbolizes female empowerment and Senegalese resistance to colonial oppression.

Exhibit

Nicholas Galanin

I Think it Goes Like This (Gold)

April 9, 2024 - April 5, 2026

For Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest coast such as Galanin (Tlingít and Unangax̂), the totem pole is a ceremonial object used to celebrate events, depict stories, and document family lineage. In I Think It Goes Like This (Gold), a seemingly Indigenous-made totem pole is covered in gold leaf but lies dismantled on the ground. Contrary to the viewers’ original understanding of the object, this is not a cultural tool of memory-making and community. It is a carving by an Indonesian artist created to sell as a souvenir to tourists in Alaska. Through his intervention of destruction and reassembly to the original carving and application of gold leaf, Galanin creates dialogue about the economy of cultural appropriation while reclaiming the work as Indigenous art. 

About the artist

Examining the complexities of contemporary Indigenous identity, culture, and representation, Nicholas Galanin works from his experience as a Tlingít and Unangax̂ artist. Embedding incisive observation and reflection into his oftentimes provocative work, he aims to redress the widespread misappropriation of Indigenous visual culture, the impact of colonialism, as well as collective amnesia. Galanin reclaims narrative and creative agency, while demonstrating contemporary Indigenous art as a continually evolving practice. As he describes: :My process of creation is a constant pursuit of freedom and vision for the present and future. I use my work to explore adaptation, resilience, survival, dream, memory, cultural resurgence, and connection and disconnection to the land.” Galanin unites both traditional and contemporary practices, creating a synthesis of elements in order to navigate “the politics of cultural representation.” Speaking through multiple visual, sonic, and tactile languages, his concepts determine his processes, which include sculpture, installation, photography, video, performance, and textile-based work. This contemporary practice builds upon an Indigenous artistic continuum while celebrating the culture and its people; Galanin contributes urgent criticality and vision through resonant and layered works.

Exhibit