Atlanta artist Shanequa Gay’s Hammonds House Museum exhibition, “Lit Without Sherman: A Love Letter To The West End” is a vibrant and nostalgic tribute to the historic neighborhood’s everyday people and its patron saints, from activists to playwrights.
Their portraits are painted directly on the museum walls in this ephemeral body of work.
The exhibition will be on view until Oct. 11 at the Hammonds House Museum. After the show is over, the portraits will be painted over, but Gay said they will be archiving the stories of the community.
“[Hammond House] will have people come in and tell their stories about the west end, which will then be archived and handed over to the Woodruff Library in order to live on,” Gay said.
In this “City Lights” interview, she talks about the necessity to document the rapidly changing neighborhood and what she learned in her research.
