Atlanta Contemporary’s Spring 2025 opening introduces a new season of art to the city, featuring nine exhibitions across its campus. Over a dozen artists contributed numerous works, and the exhibit opened on Thursday, February 27.
Among the featured artists is Courtney Brooks, whose installation Journey of a Black Girl, featuring her fiber art piece This Crown Belongs to Us, serves as a love letter to Black culture. The spring exhibition also includes Tall and Wild Atlanta: 1984-1994, by Rosa Duffy, which reflects Atlanta’s rich artistic and cultural history during a transformative decade in the city’s development.
Both an artist and curator, Brooks has developed her artistic voice across multiple disciplines, including painting and photography.
“I love community, and I love helping, and I love encouraging creativity,” Brooks said.
Her journey into fiber art began in 2020 during her tenure as the inaugural curator-in-residence for the Atlanta BeltLine. During this time, she created the piece, an installation featuring 15-foot-long braided fiber pieces under the guidance of Miranda Kyle. Brooks envisioned cascading braids as a tribute to Black hair and identity. The creation process was deeply communal, involving workshops at Peter Street Station and The ArtsXchange, where women gathered to contribute to the project.
Initially installed along the BeltLine, the piece remained on display for several months before weather conditions and public interaction caused some of the braids to deteriorate. Brooks salvaged five of them, carefully washing and storing them for five years. When Floyd Hall, executive director of Atlanta Contemporary, invited her to bring the work into the spring exhibition, Brooks saw an opportunity to expand the piece and give it a renewed presence within a museum setting.
Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice
To prepare for the Spring 2025 opening, Brooks facilitated a new workshop, this time engaging young students from Berean Christian Junior Academy (BCJA) where she was teaching kindergarten through eighth-grade girls how to braid, she encouraged them to select colors that resonated with them and contribute to the piece. The assembly process required extensive hours of sewing and restructuring to ensure the braids fit the exhibition space. To enhance the visual impact, Brooks painted the installation wall pink, creating a striking contrast and reinforcing the celebratory nature of the work.
The installation also featured a behind-the-scenes film projected on the wall opposite the instillation with her art students from BCJA shot by Timberhouse Films
Floyd Hall reflected on the scope of the Spring 2025 opening, expressing his excitement about the breadth of the exhibitions, “I feel filled with gratitude that we get to work with so many amazing artists and curators in Atlanta and beyond,” Hall stated emphasizing the importance of refreshing the exhibition space with new work; ensuring that Atlanta Contemporary remains a reflection of the city’s evolving art scene. Hall personally worked with Rosa Duffy on Tall and Wild Atlanta: 1984 – 1994 and collaborated with Brooks on Journey Of A Black Girl.
Duffy, founder of For Keeps Bookstore, crafted Tall and Wild Atlanta: 1984 – 1994, an exhibition that brings together significant artworks, books, and time period accurate objects from the years mentioned in its title, an era which she believes defined the city’s history.
“I’ve pulled together all these magnificent artists,” Duffy remarked, reflecting on the vast collection of pieces she considered for the show. Among the featured works is a 1987 piece by artist John Riddle, father of showrunner Diallo Riddle, that captures the essence of the Atlanta landscape.
“I love the John Riddle piece because it’s of the Atlanta landscape, and it is perfect,” she noted.
Other artists included in the exhibition, such as Radcliffe Bailey, hold deep personal significance for Duffy, “Radcliffe has encouraged me in my practice so much and really changed my life,” she shared, “So he’s going to be in everything that I do,” Duffy continued.
In addition to curating the show, Duffy has contributed her own artwork, which bridges her archival and sculptural practices. Her piece remains untitled, though she suggested a name inspired by the exhibition title.
“Well, I might call it Tall and Wild based on the show title,” Duffy told The Atlanta Voice.
Curating Tall and Wild Atlanta: 1984 – 1994 has been both an honor and a challenge for Duffy.
“It’s kind of surreal, only because I was born in the middle of this time period in 1990, and Atlanta is the only thing I care about,” Duffy said.
Recognizing the immense artistic contributions of that era, she felt a weight of responsibility in selecting the right work to represent it.
“The show could be done like 12 times over,” she admitted, acknowledging the vast number of artists who shaped the city’s creative landscape.
Floyd Hall hopes that anyone who visits the Spring 2025 exhibitions—whether an artist, curator or someone who appreciates art—feels immersed in a powerful snapshot of contemporary Atlanta.
“When we’re doing our best, Atlanta Contemporary is reflecting contemporary Atlanta,” Floyd said.
