For more than twenty years, Najee Dorsey has created distinctive photomontages that bring together photography, painting, music, folklore, family history, and archival imagination. Richly layered and visually vibrant, his compositions honor the people, places, and cultural traditions that shape memory, identity, and Black experience across generations.

 

Featuring new and selected works, A Geography of Memory brings together the many landscapes that inform Dorsey’s practice, from intimate domestic interiors and rural scenes to musicians, storytellers, historic figures, and sites of collective remembrance. Together, these works reflect the artist’s ongoing exploration of representation and cultural legacy, revealing memory as both a personal inheritance and a shared source of connection and imagination.

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  • Shining a Light
    Najee Dorsey, Shine the Light, 2020

    Shining a Light

    A figure to whom Najee Dorsey has returned throughout his career, Baldwin serves as both inspiration and intellectual guide within the artist's ongoing exploration of Black history, culture, and social justice. Set against a fragmented American flag, Baldwin appears as both witness and conscience, challenging viewers to engage with the nation's unfinished pursuit of equality and belonging. Through this powerful portrait, Dorsey celebrates Baldwin's lasting influence on American culture while affirming the continued urgency of his ideas.

     

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  • NAJEE DORSEY American Juke Joint Lounge, 2016 19 x 40 inch photomontage Edition of 10

    NAJEE DORSEY

    American Juke Joint Lounge, 2016

    19 x 40 inch photomontage

    Edition of 10

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    • Najee Dorsey Bethlehem Steel, 2015 9 1/4 x 12 inch photomontage Edition of 10
      Najee Dorsey
      Bethlehem Steel, 2015
      9 1/4 x 12 inch photomontage
      Edition of 10
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    • Najee Dorsey Rendezvous, 2020 16 x 28 inch photomontage Edition of 10
      Najee Dorsey
      Rendezvous, 2020
      16 x 28 inch photomontage
      Edition of 10
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    • Najee Dorsey Up South, 2015 9.25 x 12 inch photomontage Edition of 10
      Najee Dorsey
      Up South, 2015
      9.25 x 12 inch photomontage
      Edition of 10
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  • About the Artist

    Born in Blytheville, Arkansas in 1973, Najee Dorsey is a visual artist and entrepreneur whose work honors Southern roots while chronicling African American life, memory, and history. Drawing on collage, digital media, painting, and mixed media, Dorsey creates richly layered images that center unsung historical figures, nostalgic scenes, and the everyday dignity of Black life in the American South. His practice is guided by the belief that “stories untold are stories forgotten.”

     

    Dorsey’s interest in art began early; he recalls selling drawings to his mother for candy at the age of five. After briefly attending Memphis College of Art in 1991, he continued to develop his practice independently while working a range of jobs and building his path as both artist and entrepreneur. A pivotal early mentorship with artist and community arts activist Najjar Abdul-Musawwir helped refocus his commitment to art and social responsibility, inspiring work that addressed civil rights, community, and historical memory.

     

    Over the years, Dorsey has developed a distinctive visual language rooted in storytelling, archival reflection, and the textures of Southern experience. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group museum exhibitions, as well as television broadcasts and print publications. Alongside his studio practice, he founded Black Art in America, a significant platform dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting the contributions of African American artists and arts communities. Dorsey currently lives in Columbus, Georgia with his wife, Seteria.

    About the Artist