Photograph by Eley Photo
“I’m truly what they call a unicorn,” says Najee Dorsey, the child of an Arkansas factory worker and contractor, as he surveys Black Art in America, the 4,000-square-foot art gallery–artists studio–gift shop and 8,000-square-foot sculpture garden (tended by garden manager Miss Glenda) that he has created at a former church in East Point. Outside, against an electric-blue backdrop, is a mural by Fabian Williams. Inside, the rotating schedule of exhibitions has included a print show featuring 50 artists, such as Faith Ringgold and Chloe Alexander; a solo show of work by multidisciplinary artist Traci Mims; and, opening in January, an exhibition called Small Works, Big Gems, dedicated to diminutive artworks.
The gallery is intended, says CEO and founder Dorsey, as “a space to document, preserve, and promote African American visual culture.” Dorsey, who is also a self-taught artist represented by Arnika Dawkins Gallery (his photo montage tribute to writer James Baldwin can be seen at Edgewood Avenue’s Marcus Bar and Grille), has made that focus his life’s goal—ever since he opened a gallery in the corner of an Arkansas beauty salon in 1998. In 2010, he launched his magazine, Black Art in America, online and sometimes in print. More recently, he’s launched a foundation and his gallery, and all these projects operate under the BAIA name and mission.
BAIA has four full-time employees, including Faron Manuel, who left a job as Andrew W. Mellon curatorial fellowships program director at the High Museum to work as director of the foundation. The privately funded organization champions Black art with outreach programs for the local community. In just one initiative, BAIA gives out art books and supplies to area schools to spread BAIA’s gospel that art can be empowering and transformative.
Dorsey’s combined business enterprises bring in $900,000 to $1 million annually, including income from sales of the charming…
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