Artist and curator Courtney Brooks returns to the gallery wall with The Scenic Route, a solo exhibition opening Friday, Dec. 12, at Nina Baldwin Gallery in Atlanta’s Castleberry Hill arts district. The exhibition, which runs through Jan. 7, marks Brooks’ first solo show since 2018 and serves as the gallery’s final exhibition of the 2025 calendar year.
The Scenic Route brings together photography, abstract acrylic paintings, and immersive installation work to chronicle Brooks’ personal, spiritual, and emotional journey. The show features approximately 26 works, the majority of which are photographic, created across multiple cities and during various travel moments. Each piece reflects Brooks’s approach to both art and life, one that favors reflection, patience, and attentiveness over shortcuts. “I wanted to showcase my journey through travel, my spiritual journey,” Brooks said. “I feel like I take the scenic route all the time. I don’t try to shortcut anything. I’m really paying attention to detail, and I want that to show throughout my work”.
Several works invite viewers to participate directly in the creative process. Among them is This Crown, an installation that continues Brooks’ ongoing series This Crown Belongs to Us, centered on Black womanhood, care, and collective identity. The piece features a sculptural hairstyle that will evolve throughout the exhibition. Brooks describes the work as another iteration of her long-running exploration of Black girlhood and shared ownership.
“It’s another iteration of This Crown Belongs to Us, part of my journey as a Black girl,” Brooks said.
Another interactive work, Tears of Joy and Pain, allows visitors to add symbolic elements to a communal painting over the course of the show. The piece reflects the emotional duality that runs throughout the exhibition, joy intertwined with grief, hope alongside loss. Brooks said the work is rooted in her own experiences over the past several years, including the death of her mother. “There’s a lot of tears and joy that I poured into this work,” she said. “Everything I’ve personally experienced pushed me to keep showing up, for my students, for other artists, and ultimately to show who I am”.
Faith and trust serve as recurring undercurrents across the exhibition. A small abstract work titled God’s Plan speaks directly to Brooks’ spiritual grounding during periods of uncertainty and grief. Other pieces focus on intimacy and longing, including I Made This Type of Love By Me, a nighttime photograph of a couple seated together in Cartagena, Colombia. Brooks said the image reflects both the comfort of unconditional love and a quiet yearning for romantic connection.
Atlanta’s social and historical landscape also appears in the work. In Northbound, Southbound, Brooks employs abstraction and photography to reference MARTA and the racialized limitations inherent in the region’s transit system. The piece contrasts Black and white forms to highlight how segregation and infrastructure once restricted movement and access across neighborhoods.
Nina Baldwin Gallery, a women-curated space, traditionally opens exhibitions on the second Friday of each month in conjunction with Castleberry Hill’s Art Stroll. Brooks said closing out the year with a solo show felt especially meaningful. “It was time,” she said. “It was time to share my work”.
The Scenic Route opens Dec. 12 from 7 to 11 p.m. at Nina Baldwin Gallery and will remain on view through Jan. 7.