Michi Meko

Michi Meko is an American multidisciplinary artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant and the Atlanta Artadia Award as well as a finalist for the 2019 Hudgens Prize. His work incorporates the visual language of naval flags and nautical wayfinding, combined with romanticized objects of the American South. Throughout his various platforms, his work engages contradictions and paradoxes that he uncovers through examining his personal history, African American folk traditions, and narratives that confront or circumvent established narratives.
In 2019, Meko was featured on Hulu streaming as an Artist in Residence.

WWW Official Site

Grants and awards

2019: The Hudgens Prize, finalist
2018: Working Artist Project, Museum of Contemporary Art, Georgia
2017: Atlanta Artadia Award
2017: Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant
2015: DashBoard Co-Op Residency Grant
2013: Wonderroot CSA Grant
2013: Flux Projects Grant
2011: Studio Artist in Residence, Atlanta Contemporary
2010: BeltLine Atlanta Grant
2010: Idea Capital Grant
2008: Forward Arts Foundation, finalist
2005: Forward Arts Foundation, finalist

Solo exhibitions

2025: So Black and So Blue, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia
2022: Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, Illinois
2020: Black and Blur, Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Atlanta, Georgia
2019: Out Here by Myself, Alan Avery Art Company, Atlanta, Ga
2019: When It's Black Outside, Chimento Contemporary, Los Angeles, Ca
2019: And Then There Was Sky, Sumter County Gallery of Art, Sumter, South Carolina
2018: It Doesn't Prepare You for Arrival, Museum of Contemporary Art, Georgia, Atlanta, Ga
2018: Like A Weird Sweet Spot, Westobou Gallery, Augusta, Ga
2017: One Last Smile Before the Undertow, Dodd Gallery, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga
2016: Circle of Rivers, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, Ga
2015: Pursuit: Almost Drowned, Alan Avery Art Company, Atlanta, Ga
2010: Navigating this American Landscape, Archetype Gallery, Atlanta, Ga
2009: Fear Kills Pursuit: A Mighty Roar and the Magic Inside, Beep Beep Gallery, Atlanta, Ga
2008: Comfort Kills Pursuit: Fight!!!, EyeDrum, Atlanta, Ga

Group exhibitions

2022: The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, Arkansas
2021: Realms of Refuge, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, Illinois
2021: The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia

Collections

High Museum of Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, Georgia
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts