"King Maker" by Fahamu Pecou

Dr. Fahamu Pecou is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar whose works combine observations on hip-hop, fine art and popular culture.

 Pecou’s paintings, performance art, and academic work addresses concerns around contemporary representations of Black men and how these images impact both the reading
and performance of Black masculinity.

Although I wasn’t born in Atlanta, I often remark that I was “raised” here. I arrived in the city at 18 years old, a particularly formative period in my life. Over the past two decades, I have benefited...

... from what I would argue is perhaps one of the most impactful and inspiring aspects of this constantly evolving metropolis, a little thing I like to call “Black visibility”.

Moving through the city you can see Black people of all strata everywhere, doing everything, with everyone. This has made Atlanta an incomparable muse within my practice.

Black visibility is a subtle, but profound affirmation. It gives one permission to be comfortable with who they are and to explore who you can become.

It is nearly impossible to NOT imagine your potential in a place that provides so many examples of what is possible.

King Maker speaks to this promise. A young boy mirrors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as the city thrives in the background.

From Buckhead to Bankhead, West End to East Point, we see Blackness, not as a monolith, but as a dynamic, inventive, successful, resourceful, and essential part of what makes our city great.

Atlanta, the city itself, is the King (or Queen) maker, especially for Black Americans. I remain inspired by the diversity of Black identity and the freedom with which one is allowed navigate and explore possibility.