A squadron of expressionless white mannequins stands in the basement of the Atlanta History Center, looking ready to march. But their attire is nowhere near uniform. One mannequin wears a black embroidered mariachi suit, another a Morehouse College graduation robe. Two mannequins sport vintage t-shirts, with faded dirt stains, that say “Stop The Road.”
Jesse Garbowski, the neighborhood exhibition project manager for this exhibit, points out each of the costumes with pride. These outfits, as well as other objects carefully laid out in the storage area, represent his year spent working on the upcoming “Gatheround: Stories of Atlanta” exhibit at the center.
The center’s former 20-year-old exhibit on the history of Atlanta, “Metropolitan Frontiers,” was structured like any history museum visitor might expect – a linear timeline of metro Atlanta. The upcoming “Gatheround” exhibit is a restructuring of the city’s history that veers away from the biographies of great men and great events and toward the communities that make up the patchwork metropolitan area.
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