'Call and Response' and 'Anonymous Fragments' connect ancient objects to contemporary voices

The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University has two exhibitions on view, both of which examine connections between history and modern society. Timothy Hull’s “Anonymous Fragments” is a series of paintings and drawings inspired by Greek vase fragments in the museum’s collection.

“Call and Response” features five objects from the permanent collection from various cultures and reimagines them within a contemporary context. “City Lights” producer Summer Evans recently spoke with curators Masud Olufani and Ruth Allen about these exhibits.

In “Call and Response,” curated by Olufani, five different curators selected objects from the museum’s permanent collection and paired them with responses rooted in their own cultural contexts. Olufani, an Atlanta-based artist, drew on his background in visual storytelling to guide the project. “Because I didn’t have an official training [in curation], it allowed me to approach it with a freedom and a kind of spontaneity,” he said.