ATL ARTS
A look at the Atlanta arts scene and creative youth culture
Enterprise Element: Atlanta Arts Hot Spots |
Cycle 4:
THE LOCAL BAND TXLIPS AND RADICAL EXPRESSION
The band Txlips is a group of black women who promote social awareness while making waves in the music scene.
“I feel like we're at the brink of a new era,” says band member Dara Carter. “A peaceful era and accepting era, and I think that groups like us —people, artists like us —we're trailblazing that right now. So it's really important that we ... are vocal about it, and that we are unapologetic in our delivery.”
The band is Atlanta-based, the lead Gabriella Logan being a graduate of Spellman University. Their music resonates universally with black women, young and old, searching for a fearless expression of who they are. These band members (Joela Oliver, Dara Carter, Gabriella Logan, and Mo Drumma) confront issues black women face in the music industry, social change, and the radical nature of unapologetic blackness through their music.
ART AS A TOOL OF ACTIVISM
Art has been historically used as a tool of activism, especially in consideration of the public demonstration and art used as tools of civil disobedience in Atlanta throughout its history of civil rights struggles. The need for the intersection of art and activism has never been greater for the many young people victimized by gun violence, racial injustice, police brutality, discrimination, and suppression of human and civil rights. Looking at this year of societal evolution, young people have kindled the sparks of change that have swept over this country in an inferno from leading the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence and delivering letters to their representatives, to protesting police brutality and racial injustice, and then to showing up in droves to show LGBTQIA+ solidarity in the Atlanta Pride festival this October.
The High Museum serves as a perfect backdrop for these conversations of art and social change, holding the politically charged Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith exhibit “With Drawn Arms”, a series of works serving as a commentary on not only on historic social justice but its juxtaposition to contemporaneous activism. It is more necessary than ever to have the voices of social justice oriented young people amplified. The "Art Talks Back" social justice oriented programming lets teens explore what art and activism mean to them, and how it can be used as a progressive tool for change.
Cycle 3:
PRIDE AS A PLATFORM FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION:
Thousands upon thousands of men, women and children flooded the streets for Atlanta’s 2018 PRIDE parade, marking the 48th consecutive year that the LGBTQ community has marched on the city, flags flying high and unapologetic. The festival took place Sunday, October 14th, from Midtown to Piedmont park. Festival goers began to flood into the streets at around 10 a.m. to kick off the vibrant revelry early, despite the march starting well into the afternoon and the festivities continuing into the late evening.
The energy of the parade was infectious. Color, sound and music exploding from every corner and every crevice of the streets of Atlanta. Joy weaving itself into every hue and bleeding from the rainbow blanketed crowds.
A cacophony of music and laughter wove itself into the environment of the parade, and vendors with cart fulls of vibrant PRIDE merch shouted into the streets waving various strings of beads and flags and t-shirts. People decked in PRIDE wear and rainbow flags grasped signage painted with a spectrum of colors in their hands, the empowering statements on them as vivid and impassioned as its hues.
Pride acts as not only a symbol of empowerment, but as an opportunity for Atlanta's queer creatives to flood the streets, and boast their bright colors and expression.
The Hate U Give Film Release:
Being Black in America is being afraid every moment of everyday that you will be the next causality of a white man’s ignorance. And being a young black woman terrified into silence by this fear guarantees that, inevitably, you will be.
The film “The Hate U Give” tells a narrative about police brutality that snatches it from the sensationalized headlines of the media and the forefront of controversy to place it in its real-world context and the wreckage these acts of violence leave behind. The narrative, however, is approached uniquely from the eyes of young black girl named Starr. It’s told in a coming of age-esque storyline that integrates the common trials and tribulations of adolescence with the greater struggles black women collectively face just attempting to exist in America.
In the film, Starr grapples with issues more complex than boyfriend troubles and persistent pimples. Unlike ornery high school teachers and nosy parents, Starr’s antagonists can’t be summed up as a single being or individual. Society and prejudiced institutions are her enemy, or rather, she the enemy of them. In a society that weaponizes both the existence and the voices of black youth, the film explores what it truly means to speak up, and the ultimate cost of the calamity that closely follows.
The film portrays complex and emotionally traumatic concepts. You experience exactly what it means to have your entire existence summed up by a mugshot, or loved ones becoming victims to the prejudice that systemic racism breeds. “The Hate U Give” plays out our most terrible nightmares, the horrors that we pray never come to fruition; while also acknowledging that it is the reality black communities face everyday without shying away from the terrors and tragedies of it. The film is devastatingly true to the contemporary experience of Black America, and epitomizes the struggles and adversity today’s black youth battle.
Cycle 2:
AFROPUNK OVERVIEW:
Lead by this generation of changemakers, artists and activists, Afropunk brings its 2018 Carnival of Consciousness to the streets of Atlanta’s Mechanicsville neighborhood for its 3rd year.
A festival celebrating the avant garde, Afropunk reflects a thriving subculture of individuals that have not only made a space and platform for themselves, but also spurred a movement for alternative blackness. These influencers, creatives, artists, and muses work outside the conventions of what blackness and art is ‘supposed to be’, and not only define what it means to be ‘Afropunk’, but embody the concept itself.
In a society in which blackness is criminalised and defined by stereotypes, Afropunk reminds the world that black people are more than FOX News headlines and mugshots, and black culture is as beautiful as it is nuanced. Afropunk fuels its unprecedented creative expression from a DIY-aesthetic and culture, existing at the intersection of punkness and blackness. Experimental and experiential, the festival showcases multifaceted blackness and outlier creative expression. The philosophy and nature of the festival expands as its community does, but the bottom line of it is this: To be black is to be punk, and to be Afropunk is to be radical.
AFROPUNK's COMING TO TOWN:
As the weekend of Oct 13th-14th approaches, the city bustles and buzzes with the anticipation of an influx of upcoming activity, which most notably includes the Afropunk Atlanta music festival, which will run both days.
The Afropunk festival is not only a diverse multicultural music fest that has reached international influence and platforming, but also a growing movement of non-conforming, forward-looking creatives and individuals who live fearlessly and authentically within their unique truth.
Though the concept of Afropunk originated from a documentary on the influences and inspections of African American cultural and punk rock, it evolved into a international music festival celebrating the innovative and unique creative voices within communities often overlooked by mainstream media and culture.
Though currently run by co-founder Matthew Morgan, Afropunk’s culture is driven by a subculture of individuals whose radical expression interweaves activism with art, music, creative expression, and of course unapologetic blackness. These ‘Afropunkers’ are the emerging influencers and creatives shaping this unique facet of pop-cultural, and celebrating the avant-garde.
Apart from its cutting edge musical lineup, Afropunk features multiple facets to it’s event, including an ‘activism row’ reflective of the festival's socially conscious messaging and philosophy. The festival also showcases various forms of visual art and installation, serving as a platform for underground and emerging artists to exhibit unconventional forms of expression. Additionally, Afropunk is the Mecca for alternative black expression, and it shows in the daring fashion choices of the festival-goers. Afropunk is most definitely a festival in which creativity is worn tangibly on the skin for the world to ponder and celebrate.
Cycle 1:
August 24th
Art on the Beltline: A.M.F.M. Fest:
The August Art, Music, Film and Music Festival promoted and sponsored by Art on the Beltline offered a platform for artists to showcase their works as well as creative fun for the community to enjoy all weekend. The event was hosted in part by The Bakery, a community arts space open to creative, like minded individuals, and a shining beacon of the DIY arts scene in Atlanta. The festival included participation and showcases from the National Black Arts Festival and ARTlanta. Art on the Beltline also confirms further partnership with the Bakery later in the season, as well as community art events.
September 13th
Outliers and American Vanguard Art:
The Outliers and American Vanguard Art exhibit is being held by the High Museum of art up until the conclusion of September. The exhibit itself, while starting out with a cookie cutter monotony, ended with an array of color. It's multidisciplinary finale left a distinct impression on the viewer, however, the diversity and complexity within the exhibit was detracted from by its lack luster start. But, though the beginning was nothing short of a massive disappointment, the mid to last galleries truly displayed the beauty of the development of Vanguard art.
THE LOCAL BAND TXLIPS AND RADICAL EXPRESSION
The band Txlips is a group of black women who promote social awareness while making waves in the music scene.
“I feel like we're at the brink of a new era,” says band member Dara Carter. “A peaceful era and accepting era, and I think that groups like us —people, artists like us —we're trailblazing that right now. So it's really important that we ... are vocal about it, and that we are unapologetic in our delivery.”
The band is Atlanta-based, the lead Gabriella Logan being a graduate of Spellman University. Their music resonates universally with black women, young and old, searching for a fearless expression of who they are. These band members (Joela Oliver, Dara Carter, Gabriella Logan, and Mo Drumma) confront issues black women face in the music industry, social change, and the radical nature of unapologetic blackness through their music.
ART AS A TOOL OF ACTIVISM
Art has been historically used as a tool of activism, especially in consideration of the public demonstration and art used as tools of civil disobedience in Atlanta throughout its history of civil rights struggles. The need for the intersection of art and activism has never been greater for the many young people victimized by gun violence, racial injustice, police brutality, discrimination, and suppression of human and civil rights. Looking at this year of societal evolution, young people have kindled the sparks of change that have swept over this country in an inferno from leading the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence and delivering letters to their representatives, to protesting police brutality and racial injustice, and then to showing up in droves to show LGBTQIA+ solidarity in the Atlanta Pride festival this October.
The High Museum serves as a perfect backdrop for these conversations of art and social change, holding the politically charged Glenn Kaino and Tommie Smith exhibit “With Drawn Arms”, a series of works serving as a commentary on not only on historic social justice but its juxtaposition to contemporaneous activism. It is more necessary than ever to have the voices of social justice oriented young people amplified. The "Art Talks Back" social justice oriented programming lets teens explore what art and activism mean to them, and how it can be used as a progressive tool for change.
Cycle 3:
PRIDE AS A PLATFORM FOR CREATIVE EXPRESSION:
Thousands upon thousands of men, women and children flooded the streets for Atlanta’s 2018 PRIDE parade, marking the 48th consecutive year that the LGBTQ community has marched on the city, flags flying high and unapologetic. The festival took place Sunday, October 14th, from Midtown to Piedmont park. Festival goers began to flood into the streets at around 10 a.m. to kick off the vibrant revelry early, despite the march starting well into the afternoon and the festivities continuing into the late evening.
The energy of the parade was infectious. Color, sound and music exploding from every corner and every crevice of the streets of Atlanta. Joy weaving itself into every hue and bleeding from the rainbow blanketed crowds.
A cacophony of music and laughter wove itself into the environment of the parade, and vendors with cart fulls of vibrant PRIDE merch shouted into the streets waving various strings of beads and flags and t-shirts. People decked in PRIDE wear and rainbow flags grasped signage painted with a spectrum of colors in their hands, the empowering statements on them as vivid and impassioned as its hues.
Pride acts as not only a symbol of empowerment, but as an opportunity for Atlanta's queer creatives to flood the streets, and boast their bright colors and expression.
The Hate U Give Film Release:
Being Black in America is being afraid every moment of everyday that you will be the next causality of a white man’s ignorance. And being a young black woman terrified into silence by this fear guarantees that, inevitably, you will be.
The film “The Hate U Give” tells a narrative about police brutality that snatches it from the sensationalized headlines of the media and the forefront of controversy to place it in its real-world context and the wreckage these acts of violence leave behind. The narrative, however, is approached uniquely from the eyes of young black girl named Starr. It’s told in a coming of age-esque storyline that integrates the common trials and tribulations of adolescence with the greater struggles black women collectively face just attempting to exist in America.
In the film, Starr grapples with issues more complex than boyfriend troubles and persistent pimples. Unlike ornery high school teachers and nosy parents, Starr’s antagonists can’t be summed up as a single being or individual. Society and prejudiced institutions are her enemy, or rather, she the enemy of them. In a society that weaponizes both the existence and the voices of black youth, the film explores what it truly means to speak up, and the ultimate cost of the calamity that closely follows.
The film portrays complex and emotionally traumatic concepts. You experience exactly what it means to have your entire existence summed up by a mugshot, or loved ones becoming victims to the prejudice that systemic racism breeds. “The Hate U Give” plays out our most terrible nightmares, the horrors that we pray never come to fruition; while also acknowledging that it is the reality black communities face everyday without shying away from the terrors and tragedies of it. The film is devastatingly true to the contemporary experience of Black America, and epitomizes the struggles and adversity today’s black youth battle.
Cycle 2:
AFROPUNK OVERVIEW:
Lead by this generation of changemakers, artists and activists, Afropunk brings its 2018 Carnival of Consciousness to the streets of Atlanta’s Mechanicsville neighborhood for its 3rd year.
A festival celebrating the avant garde, Afropunk reflects a thriving subculture of individuals that have not only made a space and platform for themselves, but also spurred a movement for alternative blackness. These influencers, creatives, artists, and muses work outside the conventions of what blackness and art is ‘supposed to be’, and not only define what it means to be ‘Afropunk’, but embody the concept itself.
In a society in which blackness is criminalised and defined by stereotypes, Afropunk reminds the world that black people are more than FOX News headlines and mugshots, and black culture is as beautiful as it is nuanced. Afropunk fuels its unprecedented creative expression from a DIY-aesthetic and culture, existing at the intersection of punkness and blackness. Experimental and experiential, the festival showcases multifaceted blackness and outlier creative expression. The philosophy and nature of the festival expands as its community does, but the bottom line of it is this: To be black is to be punk, and to be Afropunk is to be radical.
AFROPUNK's COMING TO TOWN:
As the weekend of Oct 13th-14th approaches, the city bustles and buzzes with the anticipation of an influx of upcoming activity, which most notably includes the Afropunk Atlanta music festival, which will run both days.
The Afropunk festival is not only a diverse multicultural music fest that has reached international influence and platforming, but also a growing movement of non-conforming, forward-looking creatives and individuals who live fearlessly and authentically within their unique truth.
Though the concept of Afropunk originated from a documentary on the influences and inspections of African American cultural and punk rock, it evolved into a international music festival celebrating the innovative and unique creative voices within communities often overlooked by mainstream media and culture.
Though currently run by co-founder Matthew Morgan, Afropunk’s culture is driven by a subculture of individuals whose radical expression interweaves activism with art, music, creative expression, and of course unapologetic blackness. These ‘Afropunkers’ are the emerging influencers and creatives shaping this unique facet of pop-cultural, and celebrating the avant-garde.
Apart from its cutting edge musical lineup, Afropunk features multiple facets to it’s event, including an ‘activism row’ reflective of the festival's socially conscious messaging and philosophy. The festival also showcases various forms of visual art and installation, serving as a platform for underground and emerging artists to exhibit unconventional forms of expression. Additionally, Afropunk is the Mecca for alternative black expression, and it shows in the daring fashion choices of the festival-goers. Afropunk is most definitely a festival in which creativity is worn tangibly on the skin for the world to ponder and celebrate.
Cycle 1:
August 24th
Art on the Beltline: A.M.F.M. Fest:
The August Art, Music, Film and Music Festival promoted and sponsored by Art on the Beltline offered a platform for artists to showcase their works as well as creative fun for the community to enjoy all weekend. The event was hosted in part by The Bakery, a community arts space open to creative, like minded individuals, and a shining beacon of the DIY arts scene in Atlanta. The festival included participation and showcases from the National Black Arts Festival and ARTlanta. Art on the Beltline also confirms further partnership with the Bakery later in the season, as well as community art events.
September 13th
Outliers and American Vanguard Art:
The Outliers and American Vanguard Art exhibit is being held by the High Museum of art up until the conclusion of September. The exhibit itself, while starting out with a cookie cutter monotony, ended with an array of color. It's multidisciplinary finale left a distinct impression on the viewer, however, the diversity and complexity within the exhibit was detracted from by its lack luster start. But, though the beginning was nothing short of a massive disappointment, the mid to last galleries truly displayed the beauty of the development of Vanguard art.
OUR GOAL |
|
|
|