Skip to main content

Main Sub Nav

  • Prospective Students
  • Current Students
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Alumni
  • Employers
Home
  • About
    • About The School of Art
      • About
      • History
      • Mission
      • Solidarity & Justice
      • Contact Us
      • Visit the School
    • People
      • Directory
      • Lamar Dodd Professorial Chair
      • Visiting Artist & Scholar Lectures
      • Board of Advisors
      • Careers at Dodd
    • Facilities
      • Studios & Facilities
      • Art Library
      • Reserve A Space
      • The CAVE
      • Maps & Floor Plans
  • Programs
    • Undergraduate Programs
      • Overview
      • Undergraduate Admissions
      • Degree Options
      • Minors in Art & Art History
      • Studio Art Core
      • Courses
    • Graduate Programs
      • Overview
      • MA
      • MFA
      • MAEd
      • Admissions
      • PhD in Art with Emphasis in Art Education
      • PhD in Art with Emphasis in Art History
      • EdS in Art Education
      • Art Education Certificate Only Program
      • Funding & Research Support
      • Courses
    • Study Abroad & Field Study
      • Overview
      • Cortona
      • NYC Maymester Program
    • Community Programs
      • UGA Community Art School
      • UGA Summer Art Camp
      • Athens Art Book Fair
  • Events & Exhibitions
    • Speaker Series
      • Lecture Series
    • Calendars
      • Upcoming Events
      • Calendar View
      • Submit Events
      • Events Archive
    • Galleries
      • Dodd Galleries
      • Athenaeum
      • Online Exhibitions
      • Current Exhibitions
      • Upcoming Exhibitions
      • Past Exhibitions
      • Performances & Talks
      • Propose an Exhibition
  • Research
    • Programs
      • Art & Education for Social Justice Symposium
      • The Willson Center for Humanities & Arts
      • a2ru
      • Social Ecology Lab
      • UGA Arts Collaborative
      • Margie E West Award
    • Events & Galleries
      • Visiting Artist & Scholar Lectures
      • Research Days
      • Dodd Galleries
      • The Athenaeum
    • Research & People
      • Lamar Dodd Professional Chair
      • Dodd Interdisciplinary Fellows
      • Graduate Research
  • News
    • All News
    • Student News
    • Graduate News
    • Faculty & Staff News
    • Alumni News
    • Submit News
  • Give
  • Mobile Menu Extras
    • News
    • Events
    • Give

    Search form

    social_media

One Last Smile Before the Undertow

Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image

In response to the Black Lives Matter uprising occurring across the world due to the countless and senseless deaths of black people at the hands of police, we are revisiting an exhibition from 2017. That January, directly after the inauguration of Donald Trump, Atlanta-based artist, Michi Meko, debuted a new suite of works at the Dodd Galleries addressing black life in America post-Obama. Due to recent events, finding the show so prescient, we reached out to Meko with the idea to repost the exhibition. He agreed: "Go for it!," he wrote in an email. "It's the perfect time."

To be a part of the movement, take action today: 

NAACP: https://www.naacp.org/  

Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/  

Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatter.com/resources/ 

Below is the original essay by Dodd Galleries Director, Katie Geha. 

Exhibition as Warning, Lament

One Last Smile Before the Undertow is an exhibition as warning; a red flag for what might pass in our new administration. The title is a lyric from a Shabazz Palaces’ song and for the artist, Michi Meko, it encapsulates his feelings since November 9th. “This show opens right after the inauguration,” he explains. “And I just feel like we are all preparing to go out into an unknown and already that unknown seems turbulent, like something that is going to take us out to sea.”

Meko grew up in Alabama and his connection to water, whether it be through sailing or fishing, runs deep: “The sea for me is the perfect metaphor for black lives; love and migration and movement.” As such, the works in the show reflect the vernacular of travel by water. A series of drawings, roughed up marks of blue and red on a layered black background act as nautical flags, warnings, whereas buoys remind the viewer to remain buoyant and resistant in the face of fear and danger. “Anchors” in the form of a chandelier and a gourd suggest the necessity of digging in, a persistent fastening to the landscape.

A large wall piece, the third in a series of five, is an immersive map or a backdrop to how Meko imagines we might now navigate this unknown America: “How does one that is Other navigate public space?” he asks himself. “Am I paranoid? Do I have a right to be concerned?”

Just as the exhibition is a warning, it is also a lament. The last smile of the title is a reference to Barack Obama’s gleaming toothy smile which Meko noticed everywhere these past eight years as Obama’s photo hung proudly in barber shops, black owned business, and homes across the South. A bright shining beacon of light, now dimmed. Sun Ra’s journey song When There is No Sun, a lament in its own right, played on repeat while Meko was working on this show, setting the tone for the series of works. Sun Ra sings slowly over a moody piano, “Sky is the sea of darkness, when there is no sun to light the way.”

-- Katie Geha, Director, Dodd Galleries

Michi Meko has exhibited widely, most recently holding solo exhibitions at Chimento Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; Cress Gallery at University of Chattanooga; Westobou Gallery, Augusta, GA; and MOCA GA, Atlanta GA. Group shows include Contemporary Arts Center, Mobile, AL; Artspace New Haven, New Haven, CT; Zuckerman Museum of Art. Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw GA; and Hammonds House Museum, Atlanta, GA among many others. In 2017 Meko was awarded two prestigious grants: the Atlanta Artadia Award and the Joan Mitchell Award. In addition, Meko has received a DashBoard Co-Op Residency Grant, an Idea Capital Grant, a Flux Projects Grant, and a Wonderroot CSA Grant. He is represented by Alan Avery Art Company, Atlanta and Chimento Contemporary, Los Angeles. His work is collected in the permanent collection of the High Museum of Art. 

Installation photos by Brittainy Lauback

Gallery
Online Gallery
Exhibition Duration
June 08, 2020 - June 22, 2020
Log in to post comments
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image
  • Michi Meko, "One Last Smile Before the Undertow," 2017, installation image

Footer Menu 1

  • Academics
  • UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
  • Degree Options
  • Studio Art Core
  • GRADUATE PROGRAMS
    • MA
    • MFA
    • MAEd
    • PhD Art Education
    • PhD Art History
    • Funding & Research Support
  • Admissions
  • Studies Abroad & Field Study

Footer Menu 2

  • Galleries
    • Current Exhibitons
    • Past Exhibitions
    • Performances & Talks
    • Propose an Exhibitions
    • BFA Exhibition Guidelines

Footer Meun 4

  • Faculty & Staff
    • Faculty & Staff Resources
    • Curriculum Policies
    • Forms & Links
    • Dodd Studio Support
  • Graduate Students
  • Alumni
    • Create an Alumni Profile
    • Alumni Opportunities

Footer 3

  • Dodd Resources
  • Equipment Checkout
    • Open Access Fabrication Labs
    • Dodd Studio Support
  • Student Resources
    • Scholarships
  • Academic Advising
    • Degree Requirements
    • Minor Requirements
    • Area Portfolio Review
    • Internship Policy & Course
  • Student Opportunities
    • Submit an Opportunity for Students

Footer Menu 5

  • Facilities
    • Request a Meeting Space
  • Studio & Classroom Spaces
    • Thomas Street Art Complex
    • Art Library
    • Open Access Fabrication Labs
    • Maps & Floor Plans
  • Research
    • Visit the School
    • Board of Visitors
    • Visiting Artists & Scholars
    • Work at the Dodd
  • View Calendar

Footer Submit Menu

  • ALL FORMS AND LINKS
  • Event/Calendar Submission
  • Instructor Override Request Form
  • Multi-Student Override Request Form
  • Website Update

Franklin_A&S-FS-CW-(1)-websize.png

Lamar Dodd School of Art
University of Georgia
270 River Road
Athens, GA 30602

706.542.1511
 

CONTACT US

Privacy Policy | © 2020 Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia. All rights reserved.

Login  |  UGA Master Calendar  |  www.uga.edu                          website feedback