🧿NYDIA BLAS🧿

Last chance to see Rejoice, Resist, Rest: Images of Black Liberation!!⁣ ⁣ It was a joy to co-curate this exhibition of student work! We had sssooo much fun at our exhibition walkthrough and Zine Making Workshop. A BIG thank you to everyone who participated and made this possible! 🖤🖤🖤⁣ ⁣ ⁣ The project materialized in photography and curatorial studies courses taught in the Department of Art & Visual Culture at Spelman College under the direction of Nydia Blas, M.F.A., and Chad Dawkins, Ph.D.⁣ ⁣ The exhibition Rejoice, Resist, Rest: Images of Black Liberation from the Johnson Publishing Company Archives presents a selection of artworks, archival photographs, texts, and zines by students of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Art History + Curatorial Studies Collective and the Spelman Photography Program produced through access to the Johnson Publishing Company Archive, an initiative supported by the Getty Research Institute. Students engaged with historical photographs and other ephemera symbolic of the 20th century Black American experience and responded via themes of freedom and liberation. The results include a variety of interpretations and responses dependent upon a student’s personal, artistic, and academic interests. ⁣ ⁣ This project is made possible with grant support awarded to Spelman College from Getty Research Institute through Johnson Publishing Company Archive initiative.

Last week I had this on and my student stopped class and asked me “Professor, how do you put together an outfit like this?” So I’ve been thinking about getting dressed and why I like it! An outfit is like the art I make, putting disparate things together to make a whole. It’s creative, it’s fun…it’s a temporal expression. I usually start with one thing I FEEL like wearing. I rarely think about what’s expected or appropriate for the day. I could wear a ballgown on a Sunday and sweats to the ball. It could be a pair of shoes, a jacket…then I build the rest of the outfit around that thing, by trying other stuff on to balance all things out. I thrift most of my clothes. I get rid of things often that no longer feel aligned, as I am forever growing and changing. I thrift most of my things, cause I like a hunt. That’s my answer!

ACP is excited to announce our 2026 Summer Workshop Schedule! Swipe to explore an incredible lineup of workshops running from June through August. Hit the link in bio to register and learn more about each workshop!

I love a sweet beginning but I also love a good ending. In a year, I learned how to be still, play in fun, and work slowly by hand. I often sat with ancestors who shared skills and made with me. I felt every emotion by myself. I washed them off of me in warm bathes listening to the sounds of Edgewood. I invited people in and let them witness pieces of me. I sang my heart out and didn’t care who heard me. I learned how to sew with a sewing machine! Thank you @atlantacenterforphotography and @downtownatlanta for providing me with such a magical place to create. Love, Nydia.

Magical summer loading….

EN RÉSIDENCE 📸 “J’ai toujours pensé qu’il pouvait y avoir une certaine magie dans les choses, tant qu’on décidait d’y croire.“ Nydias Blas, @neeksiebeeks , travaille avec des médias comme The NY Times ou The New Yorker et enseigne la photographie à Spelman College à Atlanta [université privée, historiquement réservée aux femmes]. En résidence à la Friche, elle a travaillé avec des adolescent·es de la Coopérative Jeunesse de Service — portée par Inter-Made, la Ligue de l’Enseignement et la Friche — avec qui elle a développé une série de portraits collaboratifs. Ces images explorent plusieurs manières de se représenter : des regards faces, d’autres se détournent. Une façon de questionner la place de celui ci et la manière dont chacun·e choisit d’apparaître. Son travail est à découvrir dans l’exposition “En route : views from Atlanta and Marseille” jusqu’au 3 mai. Une exposition qui met en dialogue les deux villes, profondément liées par leurs histoires, leurs cultures et leurs identités. Depuis bientôt 4 ans, la Friche la Belle de Mai à Ville de Marseille et @villa.albertine , the French Institute for Culture and Education à Atlanta font dialoguer les deux viles dans le cadre du programme City/Cité. 📝 L’interview complet dans le lien en bio ! 🖼️ L’exposition à découvrir gratuitement et tous les jours jusqu'au 3 mai; infos sur notre site internet !

In all the darkness, a little sweet light shines through. I love you!

✈️ Qu’est-ce qu’un étranger voit que nous ne voyons plus ? L’exposition « En route » vous propose un chassé-croisé photographique fascinant entre la cité phocéenne et la capitale de la Géorgie. 4 photographes, 2 continents, et une immersion totale : 🇺🇸 À Atlanta : Yohanne Lamoulère s’immerge dans l’énergie électrique des fanfares de lycées, tandis que Geoffroy Mathieu documente la ville à hauteur de piéton, entre bitume et autoroutes. 🇫🇷 À Marseille : Nydia Blas collabore avec la jeunesse vibrante de la Friche et Dudley Greer explore les strates rocheuses et les multiples visages de notre cité. Une confrontation brute et nécessaire entre deux cultures du Sud qui vibrent à l’unisson. 🌍✨ 📍 Galerie La Salle des Machines (Friche la Belle de Mai) 🗓️ Jusqu’au 3 mai 2026 💰 GRATUIT — Ouvert tous les jours 👉 Envie de découvrir toute la programmation et les infos pratiques ? Rendez-vous sur notre site : 🔗 go-expo.fr (Lien direct en bio !) #MarseilleCulture #AtlantaArt #Photographie #EnRoute

I bought a lil vintage point & shoot for this trip. I just want to say, thank you again Marseille! As soon as I get accustomed to the time change, it’s time to gggoooo. I needed that rest, love, celebration, and and break from the US. **📸 some photos taken by the youth of Marseille ❤️ The show is on view @frichelabelledemai until May ✨✨✨.

En Route: Views from Atlanta and Marseille opens TONIGHT at @frichelabelledemai . The work that I made this summer, in collaboration with the people and the land is entitled: You are the Offering. Thank you Marseille for charging and changing me, I will be forever grateful! ✨✨✨

ME for The New Yorker! Fiction. What an honor to make a photograph to accompanying “The City is a Graveyard” by Addie Chitchens!! @addie_citchens 🪄✨ ⁣ Model: @iamgoddessdivine Photo assist: @tai.campbell (graduating photo major @spelman_avc )

Marseille!!! Opening reception is this Friday at 5pm! Come see the work of @jdudleygreer @yohannelamoulere @geoffroymathieu and me! 4 photographers “trade places” and make work about sister cities Atlanta, Georgia USA and Marseille, France! Curated by @mmmmkelly ✨✨✨ @villa.albertine