Visiting Artist Rahim Fortune reframes narratives of family and community in the south

“Rahim Fortune (b.1994) uses photography to ask fundamental questions about American identity. Focusing on the narratives of individual families and communities, he explores shifting geographies of migration and resettlement, and the way that these histories are written on the landscapes of Texas and the American South.”

– Rahim Fortune, “About” page on artist website, rahimfortune.com/about

This week, the Lamar Dodd School of Art welcomes New York- and Texas-based photographer Rahim Fortune as a Visiting Artist. Fortune’s visit to the School of Art coincides with his inclusion in a major survey exhibition of Southern photography at the High Museum in Atlanta titled A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845 (September 15, 2023 – January 14, 2024).

Join us for Fortune’s Visiting Artist Lecture on October 17 at 5 PM in room S151. This event is free and open to the public. The title of his lecture — “Complex interiority: New visions of the south” — is taken from an essay he penned in the High Museum’s forthcoming monograph published by Aperture.

Associate professor of photography and expanded media Marni Shindelman invited Fortune to visit the School of Art after discussing the High Museum survey exhibition A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845 with curator Gregory Harris. “I asked Harris who among the exhibiting artists he would consider to be one of the most exciting emerging photographers who would connect well with our students, and he pointed me towards Rahim Fortune,” Shindelman recounted.

Fortune joins us for a public lecture on October 17, studio visits with graduate students in the MFA program, and an intimate seminar and dinner on the theme “Storytelling & Visual Art: On Collaborative Documentary” on October 18 hosted alongside the Institute for Native American Studies and the Institute for African American Studies at the University of Georgia.

Rahim will follow his visit to the Dodd with a public dialogue at the High Museum on October 19 titled “Picturing America: Rahim Fortune and Gregory Harris in Conversation”. Friends and alumni of the Dodd who reside in and around Atlanta are encouraged to attend!

The Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture series has brought over 80 distinguished guests to the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia since 2002. Visiting Artists and Scholars spend three days on campus interacting with students and faculty, the culmination of which is a public lecture on the subject of the artist’s or scholar’s work.

Artist bio

Rahim Fortune (b.1994) uses photography to ask fundamental questions about American identity. Focusing on the narratives of individual families and communities, he explores shifting geographies of migration and resettlement, and the way that these histories are written on the landscapes of Texas and the American South.

Rahim has published two books of his photographs. His work has been featured in exhibitions worldwide and is included in many permanent collections, including those of the High Museum in Atlanta GA, The LUMA Arles, Nelson Atkins Museum and The Boston Museum of Fine Art.

“Fortune’s calm and striking photographs provide a compelling glimpse into the daily rhythms of the community, revealing its deep humanity and dignity, at a time when his own personal pain resonated with the experience of the nation. But his images also capture the pain, tensions and relentless everyday reality that have influenced the lives of these people. His portraits are so grippingly engaging because he finds the necessary balance between thoughtful compassion and hard truth.” – Collector Daily