For more than three decades, Atlanta-based artist and scholar Dr. Fahamu Pecou has been expanding how Black identity and masculinity are seen, discussed, and felt. His work moves between painting, performance, film, and theory, blending the intellectual with the visceral, grounded in lived experience.
At the Frist Art Museum in Nashville, several of Pecou’s major bodies work—“End of Safety,” “Real Negus Don’t Die,” and “We Didn’t Realize We Were Seeds,” along with his Afro-Surrealist short film, “The Store“—have been gathered together into a new exhibition, “This Face Behind This Mask Behind This Skin.” Each, in its own way, examines what Pecou calls “the reconnection of mind, body, and spirit—a holistic treatise on Black being, becoming, and possibility.”
In the days leading up to an Oct. 16 conversation at the Frist with author Cebo Campbell, Pecou reflected on Atlanta’s creative pulse, its global reach, and the freedom found in stepping beyond “the veil.”
How has Atlanta’s creative community—its people, institutions, and networks—shaped your ability to reach audiences beyond the city?
Being in Atlanta has been instrumental for me in countless ways. As an international hub and a beacon of Black excellence, the city has shaped my worldview and my work. From the National Black Arts Festival in the ’90s to discovering my tribe among artists, poets, dancers, DJs, and dreamers at places like the Yin Yang Café, Atlanta’s creative pulse became my compass.
Even my years working as a designer in the 2000s deepened that connection. This city’s ecosystem—of artists, civic leaders, entrepreneurs, d-boys, hustlers, and everyday visionaries—has given me a panoramic view of what Black creativity looks like in all its shades and dimensions.
How do you see your work—and that of other Atlanta artists—shaping the national conversation about Black identity and representation?
Black people move differently in Atlanta. Talk different. Hold space different. It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t lived it, but once you leave, it becomes clear. Atlanta carries a Black avant-garde aesthetic that continually defines culture. Think of Du Bois at the turn of the 20th century documenting Black life in Atlanta for the Paris Exposition, or the city’s central role in the Civil Rights Movement. Consider the sonic innovation of Cameo, The Dazz Band, and the world-shaping sound of Atlanta hip-hop that still reverberates globally.
While not always credited, Atlanta has long been the blueprint for what’s possible when Black people are free to imagine and express. As the art world increasingly celebrates Black visual artists, I believe Atlanta will continue to emerge as a leading force shaping the images and narratives that define Black culture and identity.
“Atlanta gives artists a strong foundation, but it’s the world that gives you perspective. When you bring those two things together—root and reach—you create work that speaks across borders.”
artist Fahamu Pecou
Your work often explores identity, masculinity, and memory. How do you stay true to your own story while creating work that connects with different audiences?
The short answer is authenticity. I approach my practice from a place of care, clarity, and purpose. My work begins with my lived experience… as a Black man navigating identity, searching for meaning, and striving to leave the world better than I found it.
Because that truth is rooted in humanity, it transcends boundaries. We’re all grappling with similar questions about who we are and why we’re here. My job as an artist isn’t to convert or convince, but to convey. As I often say: In the future, historians will tell what happened; artists will tell how it felt.
“This Face Behind This Mask Behind This Skin” brings together several of your series—“End of Safety,””Real Negus Don’t Die,” and “We Didn’t Realize We Were Seeds”—along with your short film, “The Store.” What ties these works together for you right now?
All of these works are animated by a central question that drives my practice:
Who are we when we are no longer bound by the legacy of whiteness?
Or, more bluntly… who are we when white people ain’t looking?
It’s a question that may never be fully answered, but it remains essential to pursue. So much of our self-understanding is filtered through systems that never intended to affirm our humanity. This work, this ongoing inquiry, is about reclaiming that authorship, insisting on our own definitions and realities. Especially now, when we’re witnessing renewed efforts to erase, distort, or restrict Black viability, this pursuit feels more urgent than ever.
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In “End of Safety,” you reference what W.E.B. Du Bois called “the veil.” What does that idea mean to you today, and how does it show up in this new body of work?
“The End of Safety” takes its name from a line by James Baldwin, but it also wrestles with Du Bois’s notion of “the veil.” To me, the veil represents the imposed constructs of Black identity, ideas projected onto us rather than born from us. Even when we recognize those narratives as limiting or false, we often cling to them because they feel familiar. There’s comfort in the known, even when it confines us.
I argue that only by stepping beyond that safety—into uncertainty, discomfort, and risk—do we begin to discover who we truly are. The end of safety is, ultimately, the beginning of freedom.
You’ve long mentored younger artists in Atlanta. How do you see the next generation making their mark nationally, and what guidance do you share with them about building that kind of reach?
I tell young artists all the time: travel. Travel often and travel widely. Step beyond what you know. The more dynamic (and yes, sometimes dramatic) your experiences, the richer your creative voice becomes. Atlanta gives artists a strong foundation, but it’s the world that gives you perspective. When you bring those two things together—root and reach—you create work that speaks across borders.
“This Face Behind This Mask Behind This Skin” is on view through Jan. 4, 2026, at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville. Dr. Fahamu Pecou joins author Cebo Campbell and curator Michael Ewing for a public conversation presented with Fisk University on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. in Jubilee Hall’s Appleton Room.
