Jerushia Graham
Matt Haffner
Matt Haffner is an Atlanta-based photographer as well as a mixed-media and installation artist. He has been awarded several prestigious grants, fellowships, and residencies, including a National Endowment for the Arts project grant, a Working Artist Fellowship at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, a Forward Arts Foundation award, two residencies at the Hambidge Center for the Arts, and a Creative Practice Research Grant from Kennesaw State University. He has had solo exhibitions of his work in Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, and Memphis and has been included in other exhibitions regionally, nationally, and internationally. His work is in a wide variety of collections, including museums, universities, corporations, and private collections. Haffner is a professor of photography and video at Kennesaw State University. His works are represented by Whitespace Gallery in Atlanta. Artist’s Statement The thing about living near the tracks is you realize they are always a divide. This work is about the memories of my home, of my family, of stories that were told to me by my dad, and coming to terms with how these things have shaped me as an artist. It is also about evoking a sense of place that is specific yet difficult to summarize. The layers and transparency that are evident in this work are about memory, loss, nostalgia, and a love for the inner city in all its complexities. These cut-paper works are an exercise in simplicity and nuance. Like most of my work, they use humble materials and simple processes and elevate them though innovation and meticulous care.
Jerushia Graham is currently the museum coordinator for the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking. The Atlanta-based artist exhibits both nationally and internationally. She earned a master of fine arts degree in book arts/printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and bachelor of fine arts degrees in fabric design and printmaking from the University of Georgia. Graham was previously the education director for Atlanta Printmakers Studio. She has developed arts programming for the Hudgens Center for Art & Learning, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, and many community arts centers. She has produced curatorial projects for the Zora Neale Hurston Museum in Eatonville, Florida, and the Hudgens Center. Graham is interested in nurturing socially minded introspection through her art and building welcoming collaborative arts experiences through her workshops and curatorial projects. Artist’s Statement The From Where I Stand series started as a response to the increasing hostility directed toward Black and Brown bodies in society and toward the natural world. I consciously did not want to create tragic or violent images, instead choosing to create figures that look without and within, only to shake their heads at the absurdity of humanity. We are each of us the problem and the solution.
Rolling Thunder
From Where I Stand
Tire Pile
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