An Inspiring Conversation: Alicia Henry + Fahamu Pecou

Join us for a compelling discussion featuring renowned artist Dr. Fahamu Pecou, esteemed art historian Dr. Cheryl Finley, and curator Michael J. Ewing.

Moderated by acclaimed scholar and author Dr. Bridget R. Cooks, this dynamic conversation explores identity, creativity, and cultural resonance in conjunction with the exhibition Alicia Henry + Fahamu Pecou. 

The Alicia Henry + Fahamu Pecou exhibition features two contemporary artists whose works delve into the complexities of identity while offering unique perspectives and insights into the experiences of being Black in America.

Alicia Henry is known for her intricate textile sculptures and mixed-media installations, while Fahamu Pecou is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, performances and multimedia installations.

Dr. Fahamu Pecou, Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar whose works combine observations on hip-hop, fine art, and popular culture to address concerns around contemporary representations of Black men. Through paintings, performance art, and academic work, Dr. Pecou confronts the social construct of Black masculinity and Black identity, challenging and expanding the reading, performance, and expressions of Blackness.

Dr. Pecou received his BFA at the Atlanta College of Art in 1997 and a M. A. and Ph.D. from Emory University in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Dr. Pecou exhibits his art worldwide in addition to lectures and speaking engagements at colleges and universities.

As an educator, Dr. Pecou has developed (ad)Vantage Point, a narrative-based arts curriculum focused on Black male youth. Dr. Pecou is also Founder and Executive Director of the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) .

Pecou’s work is featured in noted private and public national and international collections including; Smithsonian National Museum of African American Art and Culture, Societe Generale (Paris), Nasher Museum at Duke University, The High Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Seattle Art Museum, Paul R. Jones Collection, ROC Nation, Clark Atlanta University Art Collection and Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia.

Dr. Fahamu Pecou (Photo Credit: Steve West)

Dr. Cheryl Finley is the Inaugural Director of the Atlanta University Center Art History and Curatorial Studies Collective and Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of Art and Visual Culture at Spelman College. Committed to engaging strategic partners to transform the art and culture industry, she leads an innovative undergraduate program at the world’s largest historically Black college and university consortium in preparing the next generation of African American museum and visual arts professionals.

A curator and contemporary art critic, Dr. Finley is also an award-winning author noted for Committed to Memory: The Art of the Slave Ship Icon (Princeton University Press, 2018), the first in-depth study of the most famous image associated with the memory of slavery—a schematic engraving of a packed slave ship hold—and the art, architecture, poetry, and film it has inspired since its creation in Britain in 1788.

Her co-authored publications of note include My Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South (Yale University Press,
2018), Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story (Carnegie Museum of Art, 2011), and Diaspora, Memory, Place: David Hammons, Maria Magdalena Campos- Pons, Pamela Z (Prestel, 2008). A frequent essayist, Dr. Finley’s writing has appeared in numerous academic and popular publications, including Aperture, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, American Quarterly, Art Forum and Small Axe.

Dr. Finley’s current research examines the global art economy, focusing on the relationship among artists, museums, biennials and migration in the book project, Black Art Futures, and the interdisciplinary project, Mapping Art History at HBCUs, designed to harness the power of art history and the promise of technology to revolutionize the art industry.

Dr. Finley received her Ph.D. from Yale University in African American Studies and the History of Art and her BA in Spanish with honors from Wellesley College.

Dr. Cheryl Finley (Photo Credit: Gediyon Kifle)

Michael J. Ewing is a curator from Houston, Texas. He holds a B.A. in Art and Psychology from Fisk University, where he studied under renowned artist Alicia Henry. Michael worked as an independent curator for over a decade, both domestically and internationally, with projects in Johannesburg, South Africa; Matanzas, Cuba; and Paris, France. Notably, he curated the 2015 exhibition I Know Why a Caged Bird Blings, featuring artist Fahamu Pecou.

In 2023, Michael served as assistant curator for the inaugural Tennessee Triennial, curated by Dr. Magdalena Campos-Pons. In 2024, he joined the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, Tennessee as Associate Curator.

Dr. Bridget R. Cooks is a scholar and curator of American art. Her research focuses on visual art by African Americans, Black visual culture, and museum criticism. She serves as Chancellor’s Fellow and Professor of African American Studies and Art History at the University of California, Irvine. She is core faculty in the PhD Programs in Visual Studies and Culture and Theory. Her books, articles, and essays can be found widely across interdisciplinary academic publications and art exhibition catalogues. She is most well-known as the author of the book, Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum (UMass,
2011) which received the inaugural James A. Porter & David C. Driskell Book Award in African American Art History.

Dr. Cooks received her Ph.D., University of Rochester, 2002, Art History, Visual and Cultural Studies. Her first career was in museum education. In this capacity she worked at the Oakland Museum of California, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Cooks has curated several exhibitions including, Grafton Tyler Brown: Exploring California, (2018) at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, Ernie Barnes: A Retrospective at the California African American Museum (2019) (CAAM), The Black Index (four venue national tour), Dissolve (Langson IMCA, University Art Gallery, UC Irvine) and Lava Thomas: Homecoming (2022) at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and Spelman College Museum of Fine Art.

On Feb 19, 2021, the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation presented a virtual interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3SZc_QGw2A) of Analogous exhibiting artist, Alicia Henry, Professor of Art, Fisk University in conversation with Dr. Bridget R. Cooks, exhibition curator of The Black Index.

Dr. Bridget R. Cooks (Photo Credit: Daniel Ramos)