Noah Jemisin (left) will be interviewed by Halima Taha.
Noah Jemisin is an artist and professor based in Brooklyn, New York, who has traveled extensively across Africa, Europe and Asia. Jemisin, who was born in Birmingham, Alabama, has exhibited his works in numerous collections across the United States and abroad, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
“This is an opportunity to engage deeply with an artist and learn about the experiences and ideas that have inspired their work,” says Rose Library director Elizabeth Ott. “Noah Jemisin is a significant living African American artist, with roots here in the South. We’re excited to welcome him back to the South to reflect on his life and how it’s influenced his art.”
Halima Taha, who will serve as interviewer, is a leading figure in the arts, widely recognized for her pioneering work, "Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas." She is the artistic director of the Hammonds House Museum in Atlanta.
“The Artist & Influence series is not just significant for the person being interviewed, but also for the interviewer. Camille Billops and James Hatch were very thoughtful about who they asked to do these interviews,” says Ott.
With Taha interviewing Jemisin, “it’s an artist interviewed by someone who’s deeply enmeshed in the world of art. We’ll experience two people speaking the same language, bringing us into the heart of the contemporary arts world.”
The influence of the Billops-Hatch collection
Camille Billops (1933-2019) and James V. Hatch (1928-2020) founded the Artist & Influence journal in 1981 to preserve the histories of Black artists, musicians, writers and filmmakers. The oral history archive contains more than 1,400 interviews documenting figures from the Harlem Renaissance as well as the careers of filmmakers, photographers and other artists.
The collection also includes play scripts, photographs, posters, periodicals, pamphlets, playbills, programs and other materials. The couple placed their archive — a major resource for research in African American visual and performing arts of the 20th century — with the Rose Library in 2002, and several subsequent additions have expanded the collection.
The interview series during the Billops and Hatch years included notable interviewees such as Benny Andrews, Ossie Davis, Ralph Ellison, Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor and Howardena Pindell. A complete set can be found in their archive in the Rose Library.
The relaunched Artist & Influence series continues the couple’s legacy and expands the Billops-Hatch Archives, connecting it to additional artists, says N’Kosi Oates, Rose Library’s curator of African American collections.
In 2023, the Rose Library revived the tradition by launching a new annual series of Artist & Influence interviews to celebrate the collection. That year, multidisciplinary artists Keith and Mendi Obadike were the featured guests. In 2024, the featured guests included actresses and filmmakers Anna Maria Horsford and Victoria Rowell.
“Camille Billops and James Hatch recognized the need for a platform where artists of color, especially African American artists, could reflect on their lives and work,” Oates says. “Artist & Influence was primarily based in New York and often featured voices from the Northeast. While we’ve maintained that spirit, we’re also intentionally bridging it to Atlanta’s vibrant Black arts scene.”
For more information about the Artist & Influence series or the Billops-Hatch Archive, contact N’Kosi Oates at nkosi.oates@emory.edu or the Rose Library at rose.library@emory.edu.
Artist & Influence: An Oral History Interview with Noah Jemisin in conversation with Halima Taha
Friday, Nov. 7
6:30-8 p.m.
Emory Performing Arts Studio
1804 North Decatur Rd. NE
Atlanta, GA 30322
The event is free, but registration via Eventbrite is encouraged.
Free parking is available beginning at 5 p.m. in the Gambrell Deck located at 1705 Lowergate Drive.