Shanequa Gay’s new exhibit inspired by her ancestors and southern Black traditions

Inspired by her ancestors and Southern Black traditions, Atlanta artist Shanequa Gay has created 15 new pieces of artwork called “If I Were Not Here, I Would Have to Be Invented.” Her colorful works combining photography, paint, and collage are on display now at Maison Hideoki on Peachtree Road through Dec. 9. She’s also showing a collection of photo collage works at Jackson Fine Art Gallery through Dec. 23. The artist joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom to share some of her sources of inspiration for these vivid multi-disciplinary works.

“‘If I were not here, I would have to be invented’, actually came from just thinking about histories, the make-up of a person, and fantasy and lore. My work is steeped in those things,” said Gay. “We are addicted to storytelling. We are the only creature, if I’m not mistaken, that lives off the narrative. And so, what does it mean to create the things that are not here, that are not present?”

Gay described collage as a new, but not unfamiliar, medium for her work, which is “steeped in play.” The images in the “If I Were Not Here” series began to evolve when Gay was tapped for a residency at Stove Works in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and was limited to bringing a sparse set of media and tools. “I took paper, I took graphite, watercolor, and some collage papers, and I began to play,” said Gay.