By Noah Washington | The Atlanta Voice

Standing before an Amy Sherald painting is an exercise in aspiration. Her canvases, saturated with soft pastels and bold chromatic contrasts, construct an American landscape where Black subjects exist not at the margins of the imagination, but squarely at its center.

On May 15, the High Museum of Art opens “Amy Sherald: American Sublime,” a mid-career retrospective featuring more than 35 paintings made between 2007 and 2024. It is the largest exhibition of Sherald’s work to date, and Atlanta is its final stop.

The road to the High was anything but straightforward. The exhibition, organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, was originally slated to close its national tour at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. That changed after the Trump administration signed an executive order directing Smithsonian institutions to remove what it called “un-American content” from their exhibitions and programming.

“Amy was concerned that her work could potentially be censored,” said Angelica Arbelaez, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at the High, “and that, for her, was something that she did not want for this exhibition.”

Sherald made the difficult decision to cancel the D.C. stop. Museums across the country moved quickly to fill the vacancy, and the High secured the fourth and final slot following the Baltimore Museum of Art. The announcement came in September 2024 at the museum’s Driskell Gala, where High Director Rand Suffolk made it official. What followed was roughly six months of coordination between the High, SFMOMA, Sherald’s studio, and her gallery, Hauser & Wirth.

Atlanta’s connection to Sherald runs deep. She was born in Columbus, Georgia, and attended Clark Atlanta University, earning her BFA in 1997. The High has honored her before, awarding her the David C. Driskell Prize in African American Art and Art History in 2018. Her portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama appeared at the museum as part of the 2022 Obama Portraits Tour, and a diptych of two motorcyclists was included in the 2024 “Giants” exhibition drawn from the collection of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz.

“American Sublime” brings that history into focus. The exhibition presents the Michelle Obama portrait alongside dozens of other works, many featuring ordinary Black Americans rendered with the same gravity and care typically reserved for heads of state. The show is organized into five thematic sections tracing Sherald’s development as an artist, from her early explorations of identity and performance to her most monumental, large-scale works and also includes a film showcasing her process.

“I grew up in a world that was very black and white,” Sherald said during a public conversation at the High. “It wasn’t until I moved back here for five or six years to take care of family that I realized a great part of my personality had been shaped by performance,  that assimilation was something I felt very comfortable with, making people feel comfortable with my presence. And I think that found its way into the work early on.”

Among the exhibition’s most significant works is Sherald’s Vanity Fair portrait of Breonna Taylor, a commission she approached with painstaking care. She met Taylor’s family, watched videos to hear her laugh, and composed the work deliberately to counter the rapid, often dehumanizing circulation of Taylor’s image following her 2020 death at the hands of Louisville police. It was the first time Sherald had painted someone who was not alive and present before her.

Breonna Taylor, 2020, Oil on Linen, by Amy Sherald. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice.

“We decided not to have Taylor isolated and sort of memorialized,” Arbelaez said, “but to have her among friends, among her peers, and to just acknowledge that in spite of the tragedy that fell upon her, she was just an ordinary girl before all of that.”

The dress Taylor wears in the portrait was designed by Jasmine Elder, an Atlanta-based designer. A small ring on Taylor’s hand was included to honor her relationship with her partner, who had intended to propose to her before her death.

Also on view is “For Love, and for Country,” which reimagines Alfred Eisenstaedt’s iconic V-J Day photograph with Black subjects at the center, and Sherald’s first triptych, “Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons),” created specifically for this exhibition.

Sherald has spoken about her work as an act of historical reclamation, describing the process of making paintings as one that reaches across time. “As Black artists, making work, we’re almost quantum leaping,” she said. “Every time I make a painting, I’m constantly reaching back from the past, but we have to be simultaneously in each era, present with the now and in the past,  while also trying to expand into something greater for the future.”

“American Sublime” runs May 15 through Sept. 27 at the High Museum of Art. 

“I hope visitors will walk away understanding how Amy developed as an artist, how she has been thinking about the way images work, how they create meaning, how they circulate in the world,” Arbelaez said. “She has a very deep and incredible commitment to rendering Black American life with joy, dignity, and confidence.”

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, 2018 Oil on Linen.  Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice.

By Donnell Suggs | The Atlanta Voice

The “Let’s Go Knicks” chants grew louder as the game clock wound down on Saturday night. The New York Knicks, with their backs against the wall after losing game three of their first-round playoff series with the Atlanta Hawks, tied the series following a 114-98 win. For the Atlanta Hawks, there will be another home game, Thursday, April 30, but the chance to take a commanding lead in this series is now gone.

“We didn’t do the things we needed to do to have success against them. We’ve got to do better,” said Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder after the game.

The Knicks got a big game from Karl-Anthony Towns, who had a team-high 10 assists on his way to a triple-double: 20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and two steals. Both Towns and OG Anunoby (22 points) had 10 rebounds, and Josh Hart (10 points, three assists, two steals) grabbed nine rebounds en route to winning the overall rebounding battle 43-38.

The Hawks’ last lead in the game came when they went ahead 14-13 after CJ McCollum (team-high 17 points on 8-15 shooting) hit a three-pointer with 6:56 remaining in the first quarter. The Knicks led 27020 after the first quarter and by 14 at halftime.

Game six of this series will be back at State Farm Arena on Thursday. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

“This is a series,” said Snyder. “You can’t get too high or too low.”

Game six of this series will be back at State Farm Arena on Thursday. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice

Game five of the series will take place in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. Game 6 will be in Atlanta on Thursday. And if necessary, a game seven will be back in New York City on Saturday, May 2. If the Hawks are going to be able to win in New York next week, they are going to have to shoot better from three. Atlanta was 10-41 from beyond the arc. Five of those three-pointers came from the newly minted Most Improved Player award winner, first-year guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (15 points, six turnovers). A key to the Hawks’ midseason resurgence this season, Alexander-Walker, has not had a bad series, but he hasn’t had a great individual game yet either. Another Hawks star that hasn’t been at his best is All-Star forward Jalen Johnson (14 points, three rebounds, and five assists). Johnson was 4-12 from the field on Saturday night and at times looked like the moment was too big for him.

Atlanta did get 10 points each from guard Gabe Vincent and forward Jonathan Kuminga, and that helps extend Snyder’s rotation as this series continues. The same could be said for the Knicks and their first-year head coach, Mike Brown. The Knicks got 35 points from their bench, including six points from former Georgia Tech point guard Jose Alvarado. The key to Alvarado’s impact was his three steals over nearly 14 minutes on the court.

Knicks All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, the latest face of the franchise, came into the game averaging just under 28 points per game this series. Brunson finished the game with 19 points on 7-18 shooting from the field. He had six turnovers, never made a scoring run like he did in game one and late in game three, and looked like he was uninterested in the game at times. There was a moment when he and his father, a former McDonald’s All-American, Temple University star, and NBA guard, Rick Brunson, an assistant coach on Brown’s staff, got into a verbal disagreement.

Brunson wasn’t on Snyder’s mind after the game, though. He credited Josh Hart’s defensive efforts. “He guarded everybody,” Snyder said.

By Donnell Suggs | Atlanta Voice

On Friday, March 20, the Candler Hotel in downtown Atlanta hosted a solo exhibition of Latryce Marie Golliday’s gallery, “Redemption,” bringing together nearly 30 works of sculpture, photography, and painting.

Golliday, a Michigan native who relocated to Atlanta roughly a decade ago, has spent the past two years building a full-time artistic practice after treating painting as a hobby for years. The exhibition, held in one of downtown Atlanta’s landmark spaces, marks a significant milestone in that transition.

The name “Redemption,” she said, reflects a deliberate emotional choice.

Transformation, acrylic on canvas. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

“I think I was feeling a lot of rage, and I think that rage sometimes will make you go into the mode of revenge,” Golliday said. “And to me, I had to grab hold of that emotion and turn it into something that is powerful and transformative. Redemption is the underdog story.”

That story is rooted in hardship. In 2022, a kidney illness led to the full removal of her left kidney. During her recovery, while still working in real estate, a friend encouraged her to channel her downtime into creating art for her home. It proved to be a turning point.

“I lost my kidney, but on the other side, I became an artist,” Golliday said. “I think that’s the story of redemption, all in itself, taking your negative experiences and making something beautiful.”

Down for The Ride. 30×13, Mixed Media, 2025. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

Golliday began painting 10 years ago after hosting a sip-and-paint event following the birth of her son. When a friend purchased her first painting, the moment sparked something she said she couldn’t ignore. She stepped fully into her artistic identity two years ago.

Among the exhibition’s works is the key art piece “Transformation,” which originated as a small self-portrait Golliday had gifted away to a friend. After a child tore the painting in half, she asked to have it returned and reworked it into a larger, more elaborate composition. She described the original as a reflection of the physical and emotional scars from her surgeries.

Head of Goliath. 18x 23.5, oil, oil pastel, acrylic on canvas, 2026. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

“That piece was a self-portrait, and it was a reflection of the scars that I have from my surgeries and things that I’ve gone through,” she said. “To see it ripped in half, it kind of just tore me apart. But I ended up asking if I could have it back so that I can rework the piece, and it turned into that incredible, elaborate piece.”

Another piece, “The 1st Will Be Last and the Last Will Be 1st,” was created while Golliday watched a multi-part documentary series, “Whited Out, exploring what she described as the erasure of Black history. She said she hopes the work resonates beyond any single community.

“I think the truth needs to be just universal,” she said. “We’re the human race. We’re all one people, and that’s where we should be right now.”

Peach and Overflow. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

One piece in the exhibition draws from an unexpected source. While out on a morning workout, Golliday said she came across a downtown protest hosted by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service organization, and briefly joined in. The encounter, centered on themes of defending life, found its way into her work.

Another piece reinterprets the biblical story of David and Goliath, with Golliday casting herself as David. She described it as a meditation on spiritual resistance rather than physical confrontation, inspired in part by the Gil Scott-Heron poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

“To me, it means it’s more of a spiritual revolution that’s going to happen,” she said. “I think that God will handle everything and balance everything out.”

Beyond her art, Golliday is the founder of Atlanta Art Club for Kids, a monthly meetup group that takes children to cultural experiences across the city. The group’s inaugural outing was to the High Museum of Art. She said the initiative grew from a desire to give children the kind of exposure she wished she had growing up in Benton Harbor, Michigan

Golliday said her aim with the exhibition is straightforward: to make people feel something beyond the grind of daily life.

“We’re all in this rat race of survival mode, hustle and bustle, just on the go,” she said. “I just want people to feel good and to feel magical. Like when I work, and I paint, I feel like I’m in heaven.”

By Laura Nwogu | The Atlanta Voice

Red clay soil, wet from a day of rain, seeped into Brandon “Brannu” Fulton’s boots as he held the reins of an eye-catching Perilino horse he’d purchased three days prior. As the horse, with its ivory body and its gold mane, trotted along beside him past buildings under construction and steel containers, it was as if they were following a cadence only they knew. On Fulton’s 27 acres of land, poised for a dream and tucked away on the corner of Butner Road and Camp Creek Parkway, man and horse were right at home.

For the 44-year-old horseman and Clark Atlanta University graduate born in Brownsville, Brooklyn — long deemed one of New York’s most dangerous neighborhoods — it’s what dreams are made of. Dubbed the “Urban Cowboy” for riding horses through Atlanta’s streets, Fulton shared that his love of horses started with his grandfather, who would periodically take him riding at an academy in Jamaica Bay. As a kid, it was a means of escape and one of his only outlets, but because it was on the other side of Brooklyn, the riding academy was hardly accessible to him without taking the bus and walking.

“It was something I knew I’d enjoy, and I felt it. But when you’re still finding yourself and you’re a boy, it’s hard. We all have the ability to feel something, but we just don’t know how to identify it,” Fulton said. “And if you don’t have that environment or influence around you to drive that interest, then it kind of falls to the side.”

Fulton is currently battling Fulton County, years after charges of animal cruelty against him were dropped and his horses were seized. He still hasn’t been compensated for the seizure. Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice

Dream Deferred

The reigns were soon tucked away, and the turntables came out, as Fulton explored a life of professional DJing. It took him everywhere, from spinning at college parties and touring across the U.S. to entertaining big celebrity parties and becoming the DJ for hip-hop artists such as St. Louis rapper J-Kwon. From the outside looking in, Fulton was living life. But the reality was that he felt lost. The fight to fit in, from the designer clothes to perming his hair and navigating the politics of the business, became unenjoyable.

“My spirit was starting to become stronger versus reality, and I just became depressed. I got so depressed, I wanted to commit suicide — I tried to. Because I felt like I didn’t know anything else. Horses were so out of my realm of thinking. I was like, “What am I gonna do?”

When he wrote the question, “Who are you?” On a piece of paper, the answer wasn’t that he wanted to sell out stadiums, own a diamond chain, have a platinum record, or drive a Ferrari. “It said, I just want to be happy. Be in a beach island environment, have a Jeep Wrangler with no doors, rusted. Have a simple little boat. Be around good music and ride horses.”

Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlamta Voice

Believe Kingdom

An unfulfilled dream was calling him. When Fulton encountered a horseman in Tijuana, Mexico, he realized that his dream wasn’t so out of reach — that it didn’t have to look a certain way and that he didn’t have to be wealthy to pursue his dream. The image of the unassuming man owning a bunch of horses resonated with him so much that he vowed to go all in once he left the life of DJing.

What started in a Brooklyn neighborhood soon began to flourish in Atlanta’s metro area. Fulton didn’t have any land or horses; all he had was an idea.  He knew he still loved music and making people dance, so he incorporated that into his dream called Believe Kingdom, a place where the horses would become his records. His vision was to create a riding academy with American Paint horses, a breed known for its beautiful coat patterns.

“One of my hitting gems in the paint Academy was that it’s gonna be like a school, but the school will use horses as instrumental tools. I chose Paint Horses because I was drawn to them. When people looked at that Paint Horse, it didn’t matter if the horse was white, brown, or black; you just saw the horse for what it was. And the message would be to the kids that it doesn’t matter if you’re white, brown or Black, just be pure and healthy.”

After he bought his first American Paint, which he named Spinderella, Fulton found a facility in Loganville that housed horses. Soon, the duo began being booked for kids’ parties, entertaining crowds with tricks and spins. As his knowledge of horses grew, so did his number of horses, with names such as Hip-Hop, Rhythm and  Blues, and NeoSoul. He later became a stunt coordinator for films, which allowed him to purchase his 27 acres of land for $150,000 in January 2016.

Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice

Legal Troubles

However, his vision was halted a year later. In 2017, Fulton was charged with twelve counts of animal cruelty after complaints were called in. Fulton County later arrested him and seized seven of his prized horses. While he was cleared of animal cruelty charges a few months later, Fulton’s horses were never returned to him. He is now battling the county, suing directly under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, which states that, “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

Fulton said it was never about the horses, but about him owning the land and the desires of outside developers.

“There are gatekeepers in everything, and I didn’t know that. I’m not perfect, but I have heart. I didn’t have a criminal record until I came to Atlanta. I’ve never been arrested in New York City; never been in any gang.

“Here, I realized that everything has an expectation of how it should look based on how people are programmed to circumstances. And for me, being here, there are a large group of people who don’t have the ability to see the beauty in what I’m doing the way I’m doing it, because to them, they haven’t been taught that that’s beautiful. I’m over here, walking through mud, dealing with the weather to keep them alive, to keep myself alive. It looks like a mess to you, but I’m trying to create something. And to create something, especially when you’re one person, it’s not as easy.”

Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice

The Dream Lives On

However, the one-man army that is Fulton hasn’t let his troubles deter his vision. He still plans to create a safe community for children who want to ride or learn about horses but don’t readily have access to them.

He enthusiastically stood between his land and the stream of Camp Creek that runs through it, an area he’s named Brooke. He outlined his plans for different parts of Believe Kingdom, including picnic tables and hammocks, a barn for staging the horses, cabins, and a souvenir shop. He also plans to incorporate a race track, a natural trail, and an area where wellness, music, and arts are the focus.

“I guess I’ve been chosen to be the person or the energy to create opportunities so other people won’t find themselves stuck at a job that they hate, and say, ‘Man, I wish I could have…’ For some reason, I was instilled with a spirit that’s given me the strength to go through all of this, because I was once the one deprived of it. So my story and everything they put me through actually helped me. Everything they put me through didn’t deter me from the goal.”

Fulton’s journey and the obstacles he’s had to jump over are now highlighted in a documentary directed by Adelin Gasana and produced by Julia Griggs.

‘The whole thing with me is showing that as long as you stay in your lane, you’ll make it no matter what you are. But you’ve got to go through some pain. You’ve got to be willing to take a few blows.”

By Laura Nwogo
The Atlanta Voice

Underground Atlanta is experiencing a revitalization, and feeding that resurgence is Dolo’s Pizza, a hidden gem tucked away on the second floor of the historical landmark. Caribbean flavors meet NYC-style pizza in a dimly-lit pizzeria where creativity and experimentation flow freely. From ripe plantains and juicy jerk chicken topped on pizzas to charcoal pesto spread on dough and sprinkled with a bit of “magic,” co-founders Yusef Walker and Alyson Williams are creating a slice of pizza heaven.

The concept of Dolo’s began to form during the COVID-19 pandemic. Walker had been strolling around his downtown neighborhood when he came across a vacant pizzeria. The Queens, New York, native was no stranger to the delights of pizza and was certainly not new to the restaurant business; along with his brother, Walker opened Negril ATL and Ms. Icey’s Kitchen and Bar. However, the uncertainty of the restaurant industry during the pandemic helped the restaurateur and chef realize that he wanted to venture out and start his own project.

Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice

Walker knew he wanted to create a concept that was mainly takeout, and that vacant pizzeria sparked an idea within him. After receiving advice from his family, Walker didn’t have to search hard for a partner to tackle this new venture with. He instantly recognized Williams — who had been his neighbor, worked with Walker at Negril, and also had experience working in every part of a restaurant — as the best candidate.

As an Atlanta native, Williams knew the city and its food scene in and out. Paired with what Walker called “unconventional ideas” when it came to a restaurant growth concept, the friends-turned-business partners began to do pop-ups around the city and metro area. When a vendor program for The Underground launched in 2022, offering six months of free rent, they decided to set up shop, which led to a permanent restaurant later that year. Nearly five years later, the friends-turned-business partners are slinging dough for all of Atlanta.

“Being from New York, pizzas were the thing that resonated, and I was inspired by the pizzerias there,” Walker said. “We didn’t necessarily know what we were doing, but we had an idea of what we wanted to do. We just shook hands and said we’re going to figure this out together. We’ve been figuring out how since then.”

Dolo’s Pizza (above) infuses Caribbean flavors into its recipes, creating unique pies. Photo by Tabius McCoy The Atlanta Voice

Williams added that although there was a learning curve in starting a business, the journey has been a fun experience.

“Pizza is such a fun dish. Everybody loves pizza. You can get as creative as you want with it. I think that’s good for someone creative like Yusef, and you can expand on it. It’s yours; you can do whatever you want with it. We can decide to make taco pizzas tomorrow, so that’s the beauty of it,” Williams said. “It feels super accomplishing to see something come to fruition that started out of nothing. It’s super exciting.”

During the early stages of menu curation, Williams was the main taste tester of the recipes they’d cook up; Walker was a strict vegetarian. The first set of pizzas included a Chorizo creation, a garlic crema pizza with goat cheese and balsamic drizzle called Blanco, and the OG — a simple pie with marinara and mozzarella. Initially, Walker had no intention of infusing his Caribbean culture into the food. But paying homage to his parents’ Jamaican roots was something that came naturally to him, and it quickly shone through with pizzas such as the Matey with jerk chicken and honey; the Hot & Sweet topped with plantains and jalapenos; and the Black Pizza, a black pesto creation which has a recipe breakdown printed on a t-shirt hanging from the ceiling. Through it all, customers are served a pizza dough that’s light, crispy, and the perfect carriage for their inspired recipes.

Dolo’s Pizza (above) infuses Caribbean flavors into its recipes, creating unique pies. Photo by Tabius McCoy The Atlanta Voice

The pizzeria began as a pop-up that bloomed into a storefront at Underground Atlanta.

“I never really intended to put a Caribbean spin on it. I just think I can’t help it. But really, I wanted to recreate the New York essence of pizza. So in anything we make, we try to keep it pizza at its core,” Walker said. “I think some people try to do too much. I did want it to be structurally sound. I like technical things, so we have a very technical dough. That feeds that part of my soul where I get to interact with puzzles and figure things out and that.”

Everything about the way the pizzeria is set up is intentional, from the size of the pizzas and the limited seating to the fact that they don’t sell slices. They wanted to be able to continue doing popups and also make sure they had a business plan that was “pandemic-proof;” if anything significant were to happen in the world today, they wanted to know they would still be able to sell takeout pizza.

“We don’t have huge ovens. As a traveling pizzeria, it’s extremely hard to travel with a huge oven. So, everything had to be personal. Everything about this pizza, and when people get it, is very personal. Everyone’s name goes on their box. I ask everyone how to spell their name, because this is a very personal pizza to you. It’s what you asked for. That’s very important to me, and I appreciate the personality and personal touch of the pizza. So, that has a lot to do with shaping the size and the menu,” Williams shared.

The duo said that, in the future, they hope to add a few more things to the menu and also expand above-ground into a larger and more exposed space that will give them greater visibility to customers. Walker and Williams have created a formula that’s unique to them, and despite the name of the restaurant, they’re doing it together. With every pie, they’re melding Caribbean, New York, and Atlanta culture into one.

“Dolo’s is special because of the creativity, the uniqueness, and its consistency. This pizza tastes like this every single day. It looks like this. I don’t know of any other places in Atlanta that are doing this with pizza,” Williams said. “It’s a New York-style pizza, but I like to say it’s like a New York, Atlanta-style pizza.”

Photo by Tabius McCoy/The Atlanta Voice