Najee Dorsey Explained

Najee Dorsey
Birth Date:26 January 1973
Birth Place:Blytheville, Arkansas
Known For:Visual Art
Founder/CEO Black Art in America
Spouse:Seteria Dorsey
Website:najeedorsey.com blackartinamerica.com/

Najee Dorsey (born 1973) is a contemporary American visual artist known for using mixed-media, collage, paint and photographic works that depict Southern African American experience and culture.

Biography

Najee Dorsey (born January 26, 1973) is an American artist and entrepreneur from Blytheville, Arkansas.[1] He began creating art at a young age and is largely self-taught.[2] Dorsey's work is included in various art institutions and private collections across the United States. In 2010, Dorsey founded Black Art in America (BAIA), a media platform that provides exposure to black art and artists, fostering connections between artists, collectors and art enthusiasts.[3]

Career

Dorsey's art reflects his experiences growing up in the South, particularly his childhood in Mississippi County, Arkansas. His work encompasses a range of media, including painting, photography, digital art and mixed media collages. Dorsey's collages frequently highlight themes related to Southern African American culture, including the Blues, African American history and socioeconomic conditions of the South.[4]

His 2021 series, The Poor People's Campaign, is titled in tribute to Martin Luther King's program for economic justice. One piece from the series, Ice Cream Melting, was displayed as a billboard in the Boxtown neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee.[5] Boxtown, a historic neighborhood founded by formerly enslaved people, was central to a legal dispute over the construction of an oil pipeline from 2019 to 2021.[6] The series addresses themes of Afrofuturism and environmental racism in poor communities in the South.[7] Dorsey commented on the work, stating, “If you live in an urban environment, you’re pretty close to a factory, maybe a refinery, perhaps a landfill. This work speaks to how we live in plain sight of a lot of these corporate wastelands.”

Projects and initiatives

In 2022, Dorsey and his wife, Seteria Dorsey, also a visual artist and his business partner, opened the Black Art in America Gallery and Sculpture Garden in the Atlanta metropolitan area.[8] The gallery, located on the site of a former church, features works by notable artists such as Faith Ringgold, Kerry James Marshall, Alfred Conteh, Delita Martin, Elizabeth Catlett, Samella Lewis, Romare Bearden, and Louis Delsarte.

The BAIA Foundation, established by Dorsey, is dedicated to "documenting, preserving, and promoting the contributions of the African American arts community." The foundation has supported projects that archive the work of local artists and has facilitated connections between African American artists and students at primary schools and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).[9]

Exhibitions

Dorsey has exhibited his work at many galleries and institutions, including:

Selected works

Further reading

Art and Public History: Approaches, Opportunities, and Challenges, edited by Rebecca Bush and K. Tawny Paul[31]

Cool Jobs: ‘Artrepreneur’ Uses Web to Expose World to Artists of Color [3]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Najee Dorsey | South Writ Large . Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  2. Web site: Feaster . Felicia . 2024-01-31 . Najee Dorsey creates a home for Black artists . 13 August 2024 . Atlanta Magazine . en-US.
  3. Web site: June 19, 2012 . Cool Jobs: Artrepreneur Uses Web To Expose World To Artists Of Color . Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  4. Web site: November 15, 2018 . THE VIBE: Founder of Black Art in America stops by . Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  5. Web site: Gural . Natasha . June 29, 2021 . From Museums, Galleries, And A Memphis Billboard, Najee Dorsey Gracefully Conveys A Vital Southern Narrative . 13 August 2024 . Forbes . en.
  6. Web site: Jones . Tony . 2021-04-08 . Nashville Resident Agrees: "Suddenly, Boxtown Matters" . 13 August 2024 . The Tennessee Tribune . en-US.
  7. Web site: Smokestacks In the Distance: Environmental Racism, Afrofuturism, and Najee Dorsey's "Poor People's Campaign" . 7 August 2024 . South Writ Large.
  8. News: Renault . Gillian Anne . Everyday Heroes: Najee Dorsey . 13 August 2024 . The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ArtsATL . English . 1539-7459.
  9. News: August 9, 2022 . Black Art in America Funding Recipients . 13 August 2024 . The Atlanta Constitution . via Newspapers.com . C2.
  10. News: 2022-08-26 . Fall Arts Preview, Art Museums and Galleries . 27 July 2024 . The Orlando Sentinel . via Newspapers.com . D8.
  11. News: 2021-05-21 . Atlanta Art . 7 August 2024 . The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . via Newspapers.com . D1.
  12. Web site: 2021 . Seen and Told: Alternative Narratives . 13 August 2024 . Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art.
  13. News: 2020-03-15 . Black Art . August 7, 2024 . The Miami Herald . via Newspapers.com . 1M.
  14. Web site: Gural . Natasha . PRIZM Awakens Mighty Overdue Dialogue At Miami Art Week Fair Dedicated To African And African Diaspora Artist . 2024-08-13 . Forbes . en.
  15. Web site: Waldock . Julie Anne . 40 foot wide mural dedicated at Mildred L. Terry library . WTVM News. 13 June 2019 . Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  16. Web site: The Art of Najee Dorsey . DeKalb County Public Library Event. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  17. Web site: September 15, 2017 . R.D.'s Backroom . PAFA - Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Retrieved 18 July, 2024.
  18. Web site: Remixed: Something Ole, Sum Nu Roux | University of Arkansas Libraries . libraries.uark.edu. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  19. Web site: Martin . James . September 21, 2015 . Hale Woodruff Family Collection . Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  20. Web site: Helsel . Amber . Najee Dorsey . www.jacksonfreepress.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  21. Web site: Artist Talk with Najee Dorsey: Resistance . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20200102053018/https://communityfolkartcenter.org/event-items/2015/najee-dorsey.html. 2020-01-02. 6 August 2024 . Syracuse UniversityCommunity Folk Art Center.
  22. Web site: Tommaney . Susie . May 11, 2015 . Portraits of Southern Life With a Side of History . Houston Press. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  23. Web site: Leaving Mississippi - Reflections on Heroes and Folkfore: Works by Naj . columbusmuseum.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  24. Web site: Najee Dorsey This My Baldwin (2020) . 12 August 2024 . Artsy.
  25. Web site: Najee Dorsey Return to Eden #1 (2019) . 12 August 2024 . Artsy.
  26. Web site: Najee Dorsey Shine the Light (2020) . 7 August 2024 . Columbus Museum Catalog.
  27. Web site: Najee Dorsey B-4-Rosa-Here-I-Stand (2014) . 7 August 2024 . Columbus Museum Catalog.
  28. Web site: Najee Dorsey Captive Audience (2019) . 12 August 2024 . Zenith Gallery.
  29. Web site: Najee Dorsey Bethlehem Steel (2015) . 12 August 2024 . Arnika Dawkins Gallery . en.
  30. Web site: Najee Dorsey Harriet's Daughter (2018) . 12 August 2024 . Petrucci Family Foundation.
  31. Book: Bush . Rebecca . Art and Public History: Approaches, Opportunities, and Challenges . Tawny Paul . K. . 2017 . Rowman & Littlefield . 9781442268456. Retrieved 12 August 2024.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Najee Dorsey".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.