2025 was in many ways a challenging year, in ways that affected me personally as well as the greater collective. Despite that fact, I found many opportunities that have led me further down a path that I’m still discovering.

First, I am incredibly grateful for my now not-so-new role as Senior Editor at ArtsATL and the wonderful people and connections and work that I’m able to do with this worthy local arts publication. It has been a joy to immerse myself even further into the art scene here, including a foray into dance and performance art that has left me, quite literally, moved to tears multiple times.

I’m also quite grateful for the support I feel surrounding the Avondale Arts Alliance and the Avondale Arts Center, and we are celebrating a successful year full of art and community. The Avondale Arts Center celebrated its 1 year anniversary in February of 2025, and later I launched my first ever serious fundraiser for the nonprofit, which I’ve run since 2023. I found great success maintaining interest in the fundraiser and meeting — and exceeding — our donation goals through a series of silly social media videos. As a result of my willingness to get pied in the face and various other ridiculous challenges, we raised over $12k for the Avondale Arts Alliance. We hosted the first school showcases in the gallery featuring art by hundreds of local youths as well as our inaugural Plein Air Painting event at the Lake.

In 2026, we will launch our first two major public arts initiatives thanks to the support of Commissioner Ted Terry, who I have had the pleasure of getting to know in recent months. The future truly looks bright for our little slice of the world and I am thrilled to start 2026 on such solid footing.

In 2025 I also began working with Living Walls, a local mural organization led by one of the most visionary arts leaders working in Atlanta today; Monica Campana. Following an interview with Campana last year, Living Walls Executive Director Tatiana Bell asked me to help document the new murals going up in and around our fine city.

I was honored to photograph two new murals — one by Trudy Tran in Clarkston and another by nCarlosj in Scottdale. I am thrilled to be affiliated with this legacy arts organization in Atlanta and have really enjoyed getting to know the artists and community leaders involved with these public art projects.

We also published two issues of The Verge Avondale Estates Zine, a small-scale print publication produced in partnership with the Avondale Estates Business Association. For the publication, which is currently a periodical coming out 2-3 times per year, I am editor and art director. I also write and take pictures for some of the pieces, as well as curate the calendar, update the map, and promote news and events. The publication features artists and businesses in Avondale Estates, shining a spotlight on the stories of the people who make this city the incredible place that it is. We also were able to hire three local writers for the last edition which I am grateful to see — it is important to me to find opportunities to pay other creatives through my work.

A highlight: during the 2025 Atlanta Art Fair, I was invited to sit on Critical Abundance, a panel with some of Atlanta’s finest editors and arts writers, to discuss arts journalism in the city. I have really enjoyed seeing the Atlanta Art Fair grow over the past two years, and I can’t wait to see what the 2026 Art Fair holds for me. I am honored to be invited to speak about the arts and the city I love so deeply.

Big News: In 2025, I was honored as one of 100 DeKalb Leaders for Peace & Community at the Year-End Family Cultural Festival presented by HWPL Georgia for my work with the Avondale Arts Alliance. This nomination supports the ideas that I hold dear: that art has the power to bring about meaningful, transformational change and, yes, peace. Art is one of the original languages and it can connect and unite people across political, social, cultural and language divides. I was moved by the award, and see it as a recognition of my work and the importance of community art spaces.

In our society today, we have seen the pendulum swing pretty far into a digital-only world, where interactions and society and entertainment and work and everything is handled through a screen. There are absolutely many benefits to how connected and technologically supported our world is now, but there are also downsides. Lack of in-person, face-to-face interaction with our neighbors and community members can leave us feeling disconnected, isolated and alone. This is dangerous not just to the individual but to the society as a whole, and it’s why we have seen an increase in awareness of “3rd spaces” — places to be that are not work, or home, but instead a third space where socializing and engaging with the world can take place.

I am proud to report that the Avondale Arts Center is one of those 3rd places. It is a special place where people come together around the shared love of art, a place where new ideas flourish, people feel they belong, connections are fostered and strengthened, and where those involved can be part of building a community. A good example of the power of community art spaces was when our network donated over 1000 pounds of non-perishable foods to a local ministry following the cancellation of SNAP benefits in fall of 2025.

So what’s next?

Well, I am pleased to be back at work, getting into the flow of things at ArtsATL where my writers are sharing their perspectives on local art exhibitions, street art trends, dance performances, arts educators, and more.

I’m looking to add teammates to The Verge Avondale Estates Zine to help manage social media, website, and distribution. We are looking at what expansion looks like, and how to grow through the addition of paid help in areas that we lack support.

I’m on the lookout for an exhibition opportunity for some great portraits I took of an indigenous dance group in Churintzio, Mexico. They generously took me into the woods and performed just for me in their handmade regalia and ornate makeup. In fact, they even dressed me up and took my portrait at the end, which I found to be incredibly generous and inspiring. I have been waiting to find the ideal exhibition opportunity for this body of work in order to do it justice.

Expansiveness in 2026

I’m hopeful that 2026 is the year I’ll be able to make some of my bigger dreams come to life.

While I stay quite busy locally, I have always yearned to travel more, specifically in ways that are financially sustainable and profitable, while also leaning on my skills in photography, writing, illustration and public speaking. An ideal opportunity would be leading some kind of television program in which I could interview and meet artists around the world, teaching the audience about cultures and societies through art as well as how to look at and appreciate and interact with all kinds of art forms.

Similarly, I am interested in penning children’s travel books, which would employ both my photography as well as illustration to encourage children to explore the world and be great accompaniment to families who travel. This would employ my writing, photography and illustration skills in a way that I believe would be very life-giving.

I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Let’s go!