Honoring truths
Feb. 4 — Atlanta has long been a place where truth is publicly negotiated.
It’s a city shaped by the responsibility of stewarding history. Here, the work of accountability and care is rarely abstract. It surfaces in institutions, in homes, in decisions about what’s shown and who’s asked to carry it.
Such responsibilities feel especially pressing as Black history comes into sharper focus this month.
Today’s Sketchbook stories look at the different ways the work of truth-telling takes shape in Atlanta.
One focuses on how Daniel Fuller, director of curation at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, approaches exhibition-making as a form of public trust. His latest curatorial project, “Reclaiming History,” confronts the lingering effects of Jim Crow–era laws.
The other turns inward through the work of Damien Jackson, a Brooklyn-based photographer whose four images are now on view in Atlanta as part of Atlanta Photography Group’s “Family Diary 2026.” His photographs, and the exhibition itself, carry the bittersweet truths of family life, where history is often passed down quietly, through ritual and care.
Taken together, these stories offer a portrait of a city where truth isn’t fixed or final, but lived, where it is held in institutions entrusted with history, and in work that offers unflinching mirrors.
Are you telling the truth?
—Sherri Daye Scott
The past made present
🖼️ Curator Daniel Fuller discusses the ideas that shape his work at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights — from his latest exhibition, Reclaiming History, to the role art plays in civic life.
ARTBEAT … Where kids sing, dance, create, and imagine!
SPONSORED BY SANDY SPRINGS ARTS FOUNDATION
🎨 ARTBEAT, presented by the Sandy Springs Arts Foundation, is an amazing event you won’t want to miss! Local Sandy Springs public school students will showcase their talents in the performing and visual arts, in an afternoon shared with the community.
On Sat., Feb. 7 at the Byers Theatre at 2:30 p.m. This event is free; no registration required. Donations of boxes of crayons or colored pencils are appreciated.
History held in frame
📷 On view at Atlanta Photography Group, “Family Diary 2026” includes four photographs by Damien Jackson documenting his grandmother’s funeral — images that hold the quiet, bittersweet truths of family life.
Art Happenings
✊🏾 Opening Reception of Black History Month at City Gallery | 6-8 p.m. tonight | Sandy Springs City Hall.
📷 Blazing Light: Photographs by Mimi Plumb Opening | Regular operating hours, Feb. 6 | High Museum.
🪢 Mentor: A Group Exhibition Opening | 6-9 p.m., Feb. 6 | Mason Fine Art. (Pictured)
🖼️ Solo Exhibition “Metamorphosis” with Ines Schmook | 7:30-9:30 p.m., Feb. 7 | Gallery Chimera.
Post of the Week
🐉 @atlchinatown‘s Chinatown Diaries Ep. 1: “Enter the Dragon,” documents the making of a dragon mural by @andrew.blooms, while spotlighting real stories from Chamblee’s Chinatown community.
🖋️ Today’s Sketchbook was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
