Lindsey O’Connor has been named the new executive director of Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP), it was announced today.
Prior to joining the organization, O’Connor was the Biennial coordinator at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, where she coordinated the 2017, 2019 and 2022 Biennial exhibitions and film programs and many emerging artists’ shows. She has also held positions at the Guggenheim Museum, American Federation of Arts and most recently was senior manager of exhibitions at the High Museum of Art.
“I moved back to Atlanta to create critical platforms that amplify the voices of artists living in the Southeast, and I look forward to realizing that commitment within the context of ACP’s already robust program,” O’Connor stated in a press release.
O’Connor will spearhead Atlanta Celebrates Photography’s initiative to present year-round programming and exhibitions, lead fund raising efforts and oversee the organization’s 25th annual festival which kicks off on September 28.
“Lindsey’s extensive exhibition planning and project management background makes her uniquely qualified to lead Atlanta Celebrates Photography into the next phase of our organizational development,” stated Mary Stanley, ACP board president, in a press release. “Her stellar track record working with artists across the globe to produce exhibitions, events and catalogues ensures ACP’s leadership as a connecting agent for lens-based artists in Atlanta, the Southeast and beyond.”
Stanley told ArtsATL that other changes are pending at the organization and will be announced shortly.
Upon moving to Atlanta in 2022, O’Connor also joined the board of directors for Full Radius Dance.
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An exhibition by sculptor Olu Amoda, winner of the 2022 Hudgens Prize, will open Saturday, August 19 at the Fowler Gallery of the Hudgens Center for Art and Learning. The exhibit is titled Scavenging and Scanning: Sculptural Exploration of the Earth’s Belly.
Amoda was born in Nigeria and is known for his use of discarded consumer products such as metal plates, bolts, rusty nails and pipes to create sculptural figures that highlight various social, political and cultural issues. In 2009, he received a Master’s degree in fine art from Georgia Southern University and now lives in Alpharetta.
“I am interested in the former lives of the objects I use and in the new meanings they take on when they are brought together,” Amoda stated in a press release.
Open only to Georgia residents, the Hudgens prize carries a $50,000 cash award, one of the nation’s largest art awards, and an invitation to a solo exhibit.
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Merrill Elam, a principal of Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Inc. in Atlanta, is one of only three architects named as 2023 members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Architecture. The others are Maurice Cox, planning director at the City of Detroit, and Michael Maltzan of Maltzan Architecture in Los Angeles.
Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects is designing MOCA GA’s new permanent facility at the Goat Farm arts complex.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers and writers. Other members elected this year include Maria Schneider (Music,) Yvonne Rainer (Art) and Anna Deavere Smith (Literature.) The Academy’s mission is to foster and sustain an interest in literature, music and the fine arts; the 300 members are elected for life and pay no dues.
