When “We Are the Drum and the Scribe” opens next week at the Bo Bartlett Center at Columbus State University, it brings works from the personal collection of Najee and Seteria Dorsey into public view — a body of art shaped by decades of collecting and stewardship and closely tied to Black Art in America (BAIA), the Atlanta-based platform the Dorseys founded in 2010 to document, preserve, and amplify Black visual art.
On view Jan. 20 through May 16 in Columbus, GA, the 40-plus works featured in “We Are the Drum and the Scribe” span generations, mediums, and approaches. The exhibition frames collecting as both record and reach: the “scribe” preserves cultural memory, while the “drum” helps those stories travel into institutions, communities, and public view. Together, the works place Black artists and their practices firmly within American art history rather than at its margins.
The Dorsey Collection
Rather than organizing the work by age or style, the Dorseys’ collection emphasizes conversation and continuity across practices.The exhibition brings together pieces by Kerry James Marshall, Wadsworth Jarrell, Michael Ellison, David Driskell, Dr. Fahamu Pecou, Alfred Conteh, Beverly Smith, Traci Mims, Kevin Williams, Jamaal Barber, Woodrow Nash, Najjar Abdul-Musawwir, Ronald Walton, Ejiroghene Adewale, Khalif Thompson, and Brittney Leanne Williams, among others.
For the Dorseys, collecting is as much about offering access and exposure as it is about enjoying the works themselves. The decision to share their personal collection publicly reflects a belief that visibility is often the first step toward understanding.
“We want more people to see what they’re doing,” Najee Dorsey said of the artists in the collection. “It all comes from being exposed to the material.” Beyond acquisition, he added, that support extends to helping artists “get their work shown in other spaces, particularly public art spaces.”
That philosophy has guided the work of Black Art in America for more than a decade, shaping its publishing, documentation, exhibitions, and educational programming.
The message for Columbus
Columbus holds particular significance in that trajectory. After receiving Najee Dorsey received solo exhibition at the Columbus Museum, the Dorseys relocated to the West Georgia city and spent several years building relationships within its arts community. Those connections led to the opportunity to present “We Are the Drum and the Scribe” at the Bo Bartlett Center, including a long-standing relationship with Michael Mcfalls, director of the center.
Rather than positioning the exhibition as a survey or retrospective, Najee Dorsey described the show as an invitation, one that encourages visitors to slow down, spend time with the work, and consider their own relationship to art.
“I want them to be engaged enough to follow the artist, to consider living with work, to consider buying some art,” Dorsey said. “I want them to come in and feel inspired.”
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Across painting, sculpture, collage, and works on paper, “We Are the Drum and the Scribe” marries individual vision and collective presence, reflecting a collecting practice grounded in long-term advocacy as much as acquisition.
A public reception for “We Are the Drum and the Scribe” happens 6 – 8 p.m, Feb. 19 at the Bo Bartlett Center at Columbus State University.
