Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Fall Exhibitions (fridays)

Courtsey Ming Smith and the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

Friday November 22, 2024 11:00 AM EST 11/22/2024 11:00 AM

Cost: Free. Suggested donation $5

Disclaimer: All prices are current as of the posting date and are subject to change.
Please check the venue or ticket sales site for the current pricing.

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CRITIC’S PICK: Ming Smith: Feeling the Future, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art - Born in Detroit in 1947, Ming Smith became the first Black female photographer to be included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. The New York Times wrote that Smith “employed a range of surrealist techniques: photographing her subjects from oblique angles, shooting out of focus or through such atmospheric effects as fog and shadow, playing on unusual juxtapositions, even altering or painting over prints.” She described her work as “celebrating the struggle, the survival and to find grace in it,” according to her bio. Smith has cited music as a big influence in her work, particularly the blues. Nina Simone, Grace Jones and Alice Coltrane were all photographed by her.Featuring five decades of Smith’s extraordinary work, this solo exhibition, her first in Atlanta, presents her street photography, figurative imagery, portraiture and abstractions, as well as experimental film and sound. Themes covered include Afrofuturism, Black cultural expression, representation, and social examination. - Kevin C. Madigan

From the venue:

Ming Smith: Feeling the Future

August 23 - December 7, 2024

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Spelman College Museum of Fine Art presents Ming Smith: Feeling the Future. The first solo exhibition of photographer Ming Smith in Atlanta and at an HBCU, this exhibition is a selection of the artist’s work from the 1970s to the present. Feeling the Future presents photographs that are in conversation with each other across time and space. The exhibition showcases Smith’s expansive use of lens-based media and features her street photography, figurative imagery, portraiture, and abstractions, plus new commissions in experimental film, sound, and installation. Drawn from the full complexity of Smith’s oeuvre, Feeling the Future places works from the artist’s five decades of creation and the cultural movements she witnessed and participated in. Exploring themes such as Afrofuturism, Black cultural expression, representation, and social examination, the exhibition offers a glimpse into unperceived moments of life as captured by one of the most profoundly gifted artists of her generation.

Ming Smith: Feeling the Future is the first major career-spanning museum show for Harlem-based artist Ming Smith, a pioneer of image-making. Smith, who is known for her improvisational and experimental approach to photography, uses light, shadow, and movement to create dynamic portraits of the Black experience and multidimensional expressions of everyday life.

More information

At Spelman College Museum of Fine Art

350 Spelman Lane S.W.
Atlanta, GA 30314
(404) 270-5607
museum.spelman.edu