Posted by | Ray Cornelius
Visual and performing artist, Fahamu Pecou debuted his first solo museum exhibition, “Grav•i•ty” on Friday evening at The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in Buckhead Atlanta (MOCA). A number of the city’s arts and cultural leaders and tastemakers attended the opening reception including Camille Russell Love (Executive Director, City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs), Jim Alexander and Susan Ross (Atlanta photography legends), Imara Canady (UNCF), Leatrice Ellzy (Beatrix Moss), Cha Cha Jones (Celebrity DJ), Kemi Bennings (Soul Sistah’s Juke Joint), Anthony Liggins (artist), Carlton Hargo (Slo Mo Magazine), Dubelyoo (Arts, Beats & Lyrics), Jon Goode (Spoken Word Poet), and more.
According to Pecou’s artist statement, “Grav•i•ty” uses the trend of “saggin” (the style which sees young men wearing pants well below their waist) as an allegory to talk about Black male mobility and agency. The term gravity is used as a double entendre. It refers to both the physical concept of gravity – as in the force that presses matter towards the Earth – as well as the notion of something being grave and serious. By conforming to prevailing ideas of respectability young African American men find their realities, sensibilities, and self-expression diminished, effectively rendering them invisible. Saggin then is an act of resistance and a demand to be seen. But what if we resisted this idea of gravity? What if we believed in Black boys instead of belittling them? Could they… Would they fly? Could we defy gravity and it’s limitations?
“…Fahamu Pecou is squarely in the ever-increasing database world of digital images. Though he is using the old mode of oil on canvas painting, he does so with the structure of other media, including the moving images of film and video, in addition to photography,” says Franklin Sirmans of Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Pecou’s “Grav•i•ty” is open now through February 14, 2015 at MOCA. He will also be participating in an artist talk at the museum on Tuesday, January 27 beginning at 6:30 p.m. His next exhibit opens in the spring at the High Museum of Art – Atlanta.
Check out more photos below from the opening reception:
Spoken Word Poet Jon Goode with Leatrice Ellzy
Arts, Beats & Lyric’s Dubelyoo and Slo Mo Magazine’s Carlton Hargo
“Phoenix Rising” and “Lifted”
Leatrice Ellzy with Alex Davis and guest
Kemi Bennings, Keith ‘Kebo’ Williams, Ro Lawson and Andrea Carter
Fahamu Pecou shares a laugh with Imara Canady and Brian Sanders
Atlanta Photography icon Susan Ross
Fahamu Pecou with Anthony Liggins
AJC reporter Ernie Suggs with Kimberly Binns
Fahamu Pecou with DJ Cha Cha Jones
Imara Canady with media maven Karen Mason
Karen Mason, Fahamu and Jamila Crawford Pecou/Saji Girvan
posing in front of “Black Boy Fly”
“Atmospheric Pressure”
Crowd Shot
Photo Credits: RayCornelius.com/Instagram: Fahamu Pecou
