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Tag: Courtney Brooks

  • ‘The Scenic Route’ arrives at Nina Baldwin Gallery

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    Above: Golden Time Of Day, Acrylic. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

    Artist and curator Courtney Brooks returns to the gallery wall with The Scenic Route, a solo exhibition opening Friday, Dec. 12, at Nina Baldwin Gallery in Atlanta’s Castleberry Hill arts district. The exhibition, which runs through Jan. 7, marks Brooks’ first solo show since 2018 and serves as the gallery’s final exhibition of the 2025 calendar year.

    The Scenic Route brings together photography, abstract acrylic paintings, and immersive installation work to chronicle Brooks’ personal, spiritual, and emotional journey. The show features approximately 26 works, the majority of which are photographic, created across multiple cities and during various travel moments. Each piece reflects Brooks’s approach to both art and life, one that favors reflection, patience, and attentiveness over shortcuts. “I wanted to showcase my journey through travel, my spiritual journey,” Brooks said. “I feel like I take the scenic route all the time. I don’t try to shortcut anything. I’m really paying attention to detail, and I want that to show throughout my work”.

    Above: Tears of Joy & Pain, acrylic. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

    Several works invite viewers to participate directly in the creative process. Among them is This Crown, an installation that continues Brooks’ ongoing series This Crown Belongs to Us, centered on Black womanhood, care, and collective identity. The piece features a sculptural hairstyle that will evolve throughout the exhibition. Brooks describes the work as another iteration of her long-running exploration of Black girlhood and shared ownership.

    “It’s another iteration of This Crown Belongs to Us, part of my journey as a Black girl,” Brooks said.

    Another interactive work, Tears of Joy and Pain, allows visitors to add symbolic elements to a communal painting over the course of the show. The piece reflects the emotional duality that runs throughout the exhibition, joy intertwined with grief, hope alongside loss. Brooks said the work is rooted in her own experiences over the past several years, including the death of her mother. “There’s a lot of tears and joy that I poured into this work,” she said. “Everything I’ve personally experienced pushed me to keep showing up, for my students, for other artists, and ultimately to show who I am”.

    Faith and trust serve as recurring undercurrents across the exhibition. A small abstract work titled God’s Plan speaks directly to Brooks’ spiritual grounding during periods of uncertainty and grief. Other pieces focus on intimacy and longing, including I Made This Type of Love By Me, a nighttime photograph of a couple seated together in Cartagena, Colombia. Brooks said the image reflects both the comfort of unconditional love and a quiet yearning for romantic connection.

    Atlanta’s social and historical landscape also appears in the work. In Northbound, Southbound, Brooks employs abstraction and photography to reference MARTA and the racialized limitations inherent in the region’s transit system. The piece contrasts Black and white forms to highlight how segregation and infrastructure once restricted movement and access across neighborhoods.

    Nina Baldwin Gallery, a women-curated space, traditionally opens exhibitions on the second Friday of each month in conjunction with Castleberry Hill’s Art Stroll. Brooks said closing out the year with a solo show felt especially meaningful. “It was time,” she said. “It was time to share my work”.

    The Scenic Route opens Dec. 12 from 7 to 11 p.m. at Nina Baldwin Gallery and will remain on view through Jan. 7.

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    Noah Washington

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  • ELEVATE 2025: Rooted & Rising 

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    From the hum of live drums on the Carrie Steele Bridge to the glow of murals and vendors, Atlanta’s streets are coming alive this weekend as ELEVATE 2025: Rooted & Rising kicked off its three-day run, transforming Atlanta neighborhoods into open-air galleries.

    The citywide public art festival, which kicked off on Friday, Oct. 10, will be celebrated across the city from the West End to Sweet Auburn, down to Castleberry Hill, and South Downtown. The festival aims to reimagine cultural preservation as a form of public health. Through music, visual art, storytelling, and fashion, this year’s theme, “Rooted & Rising,” honors Atlanta’s creative legacy while nurturing the next generation of artists.

    “Rooted & Rising is both a love letter and a call to action,” said Adriane V. Jefferson, the City of Atlanta’s Director of Cultural Affairs. “We honor the roots that raised us while uplifting the next generation of cultural caretakers. This festival asks us to remember, reclaim, and reimagine together.”

    Photo by Noah Washigton/The Atlantra Voice

    Jefferson, now in her first year leading the department, said she wanted to refocus ELEVATE into a single weekend of deep community engagement. “Let’s use ELEVATE as the bridge, the convener, to have conversations and build culture around what Atlanta is becoming,” she said.

    The first night of festivities was curated by Atlanta visual artist Courtney Brooks, Friday’s “Steele Fresh” transformed the Carrie Steele Bridge, named for one of Atlanta’s earliest Black female philanthropists, into a celebration of “Black girl magic” and multidisciplinary creativity.

    “When I found out I could do the event on the Carrie Steele Bridge, named after a Black woman, I knew I had to bring Black girl magic,” Brooks said. “I wanted to show all flavors of Atlanta art,  from the music and spoken word to the fashion, live painting, and small businesses that keep the culture alive.”

    The evening featured a lineup of Atlanta talent, including performances by Tiffany Goode & The Good Stuff Experience, vocalist Theresa the Songbird,  and live painter Quake Solo. 

    Brooks said her vision was simple: pay artists what they’re worth and make the city’s investment reach the grassroots. “If I have funding from the city to do it, I’m going to pay the artists who are doing the work, the ones building from the ground up,” she said.

    The Weekend Ahead

    Saturday’s “Culture Comb Out,” curated by Melissa Alexander, is aiming to reclaim Underground Atlanta with wellness programming, games, and a throwback celebration of ‘90s style and storytelling. On Sunday, SLW & Steady Productions (Stephen Wilkinson and Jordan Neal) will host “Welcome to the West Side” in Westview, featuring a maker’s market, classes, live performances, and a documentary screening at the Pearl Cleage & Zaron Burnett Center for Culture and Creativity. “Westview gets overlooked; people often just drive through on the way to I-20,” Wilkinson said. “We want people to see how much artistry and history already live here.”

    Neal said their goal is to build a connection. “We want people to walk away with a stronger sense of community,” he said. “Meet somebody new, have a conversation, and take that energy beyond the festival.”

    Since its debut in 2011, ELEVATE has been recognized nationally by the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network as one of the country’s top 50 public art projects and a top 10 city livability initiative.

    Jefferson hopes this year’s “Rooted & Rising” theme will remind Atlanta that its cultural history is not something to preserve behind glass, it’s something to live.

    “Atlanta already has everything it needs to thrive,” she said. “We just need to see it, unify it, and build from it. ELEVATE is our bridge to that future.”

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    Noah Washington

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