Join curator Chad Dawkins, Ph.D., and student artists at Atlanta Contemporary for a guided gallery tour of Rejoice, Resist, Rest, a Getty Research Institute (GRI) funded exhibition about the legendary Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) archive, a major collection of 20th century African American culture, photography, and media history.
Then, take part in a zine history presentation and hands-on workshop led by curator Nydia Blas, M.F.A., where you’ll create your own zine to take home. Stay for a reception with light refreshments and connect with artists, students, and the community!
- Gallery Tour starts at 2:00 PM
- Zine Presentation & Workshop at 2:30 PM
- Reception from 3:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Exhibition Background:
With generous grant-funding from the Getty Research Institute (GRI), the AUC Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective developed a semester-long student-led photography project utilizing the JPC digitized photography archive. Our project and exhibition, titled, Rejoice, Resist, Rest: Images of Black Liberation from the Johnson Publishing Company Archives, enabled students to engage directly with the historic JPC archive through research, writing, artmaking, and group curation.
Under the guidance of Professors Nydia Blas, M.F.A., and Chad Dawkins, Ph.D., students from Seminar in Curatorial Practice (Dawkins), Fictive Photo: Creative Image (Blas), and the History of Photography (Blas) selected and analyzed images from the JPC archive to further define and visually conceptualize “liberation”. For their semester project, students were encouraged to respond creatively to the historic photographs, such as “re-mixing” the images via collage, multi-media, and contemporary re-creations, free writing, poetry, small group discussions, printing zines, and, as a finale, curating both the historic photos and their own creations for exhibition. The exhibition culminated in two iterations: the first was installed in mid-December 2025 in the Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation & the Arts at Spelman College, and the second is currently on view at Atlanta Contemporary until May 17, 2026.
