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Atlanta to commemorate King's assassination anniversary with art

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta has commissioned seven African-American artists to make works that respond to the civil rights movement. All the participants were born after 1968, the year of his assassination.

“These works will be responses to issues of race and politics from that era,” said Michael E. Shapiro, director of the High, who added that the museum planned to acquire the new works for its permanent collection.

The artists — whose mediums include painting, sculpture, photography, video, sound and light works — are Deborah Grant, Leslie Hewitt, Adam Pendelton, Jefferson Pinder, Nadine Robinson, Hank Willis Thomas and the artists collective Otabenga Jones & Associates. The work will be shown next summer at the High in an exhibition titled “After 1968: Contemporary Artists and the Civil Rights Legacy.”
Read entire article at NYT