Current Exhibition:

“Imagine two neutron stars captured in each other's gravitational force— orbiting each other, the tension building as their tentacles of energy begin to reach out and become entangled. Finally, they collide in a massive explosion of gravitational waves that spew radioactive waste and heavy metals such as gold and platinum. This moment of destruction creates spectacular beauty but is challenging to comprehend and unsettling. Likewise, Holding Impact captures an irreversible moment in which a series of eight distinctive multimedia installations by Atlanta-based artist Amie Esslinger have collided into one, creating a force that fills the space, conforms to the space, and breaks free from the confines of the space. What we are seeing is the collision of these separate works - the moment of impact - frozen in time.

Holding Impact disrupts the neo-classical-formal, symmetrical-architecture of the Cohen Memorial Hall atrium, but it is a dynamic work of art through which new ways of seeing the world is possible. Symmetry is comfortable, predictable. This is what we want nature to be. But nature is not predictable. It is full of mutation, growth, decay, and eruptions. Esslinger plays with scale, color, material, and texture to create a work that embodies these forces to excite a sense of awe and wonder —the building blocks of creating a sense of self and a sense of community. Our community is captured in the wallpaper behind Giovacchino Fortini's 18th-century bust of the Dauphin— a symbol of empire and opulence. Members of our campus and our Nashville community participated in art making with the VU Art Gallery to supply more than 12,000 yellow and red eyes and cells that symbolically capture the Dauphin and watch his every move.”

-Amanda Hellman

On January 29, the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University will present the thought-provoking new exhibition, And I Must Scream, developed by Dr. Amanda H. Hellman, the museum's curator of African art. The show features photographs, sculptures, paintings, drawings, and site-specific installations from ten local, national and international contemporary artists.

Employing monstrous, grotesque, and humanoid figures and forms, the works engage five themes—corruption and human rights violations, displacement, environmental destruction, the pandemic, and renewal. This exhibition acts as a call-to-action and shows these crises to be both urgent and interconnected. The accompanying programming will bring scholars and artists from around the world to teach classes, facilitate performances, and create new works of art.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Laeïla Adjovi & Loïc Hoquet (Benin/France & France), Anida Yoeu Ali (Cambodia/US), Steve Bandoma (DRC), Amie Esslinger (US), Ganzeer (Egypt), Cannupa Hanska Luger (US-Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota), Thameur Mejri (Tunisia), Kahn & Selesnick (US & UK), Yinka Shonibare (UK), and Fabrice Monteiro (Benin/Belgium). The exhibition closes on May 15, 2022.