Rejoice, Resist, and Rest: Images of Black Liberation from the Johnson Publishing Company Archive
Feb 1, 2026 - May 17, 2026
The exhibition Rejoice, Resist, Rest: Images of Black Liberation from the Johnson Publishing Company Archives presents a selection of artworks, archival photographs, texts, and zines by students of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective and the Spelman Photography Program produced through access to the Johnson Publishing Company Archive, an initiative supported by the Getty Research Institute (GRI).
Students engaged with historical photographs and other ephemera symbolic of the 20th-century Black American experience and responded via themes of freedom and liberation. The results include a variety of interpretations and responses, depending on a student’s personal, artistic, and academic interests. The project materialized in photography and curatorial studies courses taught in the Department of Art and Visual Culture at Spelman College under the direction of Nydia Blas, M.F.A., and Chad Dawkins, Ph.D.
This project is made possible by a grant awarded to Spelman College by the Getty Research Institute through the Johnson Publishing Company Archive initiative.
Visit the Department of Art and Visual Culture
Team Members involved:
- Cheryl Finley, Ph.D.
Spelman Title: Walton Endowed Professor and Director of the AUC Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective
Role in the Project: Project Director - Cheyenne Bryant
Spelman Title: Program Coordinator
Role in the Project: Project Manager - Chad Dawkins, Ph.D.
Spelman Title: Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History and Curatorial Studies
Role in Project: Curator - Nydia Blas, M.F.A.
Spelman Title: Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Visual Culture
Role in Project: Curator
Chad Dawkins, Ph.D., is a critic and curator. His work has appeared in E-flux, Glasstire, Art Lies, Art Papers, and Artforum, among others. He has written essays for several exhibition catalogues and artist monographs. He has curated numerous exhibitions, both independently and as a gallery director. He is currently a visiting assistant professor of Art History and Curatorial Studies at Spelman College.
Nydia Blas is a visual artist who grew up in Ithaca, New York and currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds a B.S. from Ithaca College and an M.F.A. from Syracuse University, both in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Art and Visual Culture at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work has been commissioned by The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, Time Magazine and more. She has completed artist residencies at Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, and Villa Albertine in Marseille, France.
Blas uses photography, collage, video, and books to address matters of sexuality, intimacy, and her lived experience as an American girl, woman, and mother of Afro-Panamanian descent. She delicately weaves stories concerning circumstance, value, and power and uses her work to create a physical and allegorical space presented through a Black feminine lens.