Storm Warning: There is No Sun, mixed media on paper, 2017

The First: The Last American Classic, found digital image, 2017

Exhibition as Warning, Lament

One Last Smile Before the Undertow is an exhibition as warn-ing; 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 ex-plains. “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 3rd in a series of 5, 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 GehaDirector of the Dodd GalleriesLamar Dodd School of Art University of Georgia

MICHI MEKO: ONE LAST SMILE BEFORE THE UNDERTOW JANUARY 27-FEBRUARY 24, 2017 I GALLERY 101Opening Reception: January 27 6-8pm

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Michi Meko was born in Alabama in 1974. Meko has exhibited widely throughout the Southeast, most recently at the Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, and the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA. Meko is represented by Alan Avery Art Company in Atlanta and has work in the permanent collection of the High Museum of Art.

For more information visit: http://michimeko.com/

Gallery Hours: M-F, 9am-5pm Visit: art.uga.edu/galleries/dodd Coordinates: Tomorrow Hell, Todays Smile, mixed media on paper, 2017

The Dodd Galleries are affiliated with the Lamar Dodd School of Art - an impressive, nationally-ranked art school housed within the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. Advantaged by its position within a top-ranked research university, Dodd faculty and students pursue innovative, interdisciplinary research in the fields of art, design, art education and art history, and are aided in their goals by the school’s innovative curriculum, as well as its visiting artist and scholar program and robust exhibition schedule.

This exhibition was made possible through support from the Office of Inclusion & Diversity Leadership.