ArtsXchange Fall Exhibitions (Wednesdays)

From the venue:

From Stono To Now : The Fire This time

Black Resistance in American Art, 1739 - Present
October 14, 2025 - November 22, 2025

CURATED BY

Black Art In America

EVENTS

Opening Reception

Sat, October 18, 2025 | 3PM - 6PM

FREE | Open to the public

Jack Sinclair Gallery

ArtsXchange, 2148 Newnan St, East Point, GA 30344, USA

RSVP

Curators Statement - Najee Dorsey

From Stono to Now: The Fire This Time

Black Resistance in American Art, 1739 - Present

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.” — Frederick Douglass

From the Stono Rebellion of 1739 to the murals of Atlanta and the marches in Ferguson, the language of resistance has always been spoken — in movement, in memory, and in the marks we make upon the world.

From Stono to Now: The Fire This Time charts a powerful lineage of Black rebellion and creative defiance, presenting a curatorial arc that spans uprisings, visionaries, and visual declarations of freedom. This exhibition brings together works from multiple exhibited collections that speak to our shared legacy of protest, self-determination, and survival.

Featured works include:

Traci Mims’ searing depictions of Sojourner Truth, Fred Hampton, and Huey P. Newton, which honor the lineage of Black radical thought and leadership.

Jamaal Barber’s To Be Free and Underground Railroad, which visualize both the physical and spiritual journey toward liberation.

Najee Dorsey’s Gullah Jack and Google Robert Charles, brought to life through evocative photomontage and mixed media, reminding us that rebellion is rooted in American soil.

Kevin Williams and other contemporary voices challenge and expand the narrative, anchoring today’s resistance in the textures of daily Black life, love, and refusal.

“This is not nostalgia — it is testimony. A living archive.”

From sugarcane fields to city blocks, from coded quilts to bullhorn chants, From Stono to Now frames the art of resistance not as relic, but as a roadmap. As the fires of change continue to burn, it asks:

What does resistance look like today — and are we ready to carry it forward?