A Conversation with Artist and Curator Najee Dorsey as New Exhibition Opens at The Bo Bartlett Center
- TheColumbusite
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Interview by Carrie Beth Wallace
All images courtesy of Najee Dorsey
When artist and curator Najee Dorsey returns to Columbus, he does so with intention—and with a collection that reflects decades of relationship-building, belief in artists, and a deep commitment to the cultural conversation happening well beyond any single city. Curated from his personal holdings, We Are the Drum and the Scribe: Black Art in America Collection on display now at The Bo Bartlett Center brings museum-collected, nationally and internationally recognized artists into a local setting, offering Columbus audiences rare access to work typically seen on the world’s largest stages. For Dorsey, the show is both a homecoming and a celebration of the community that helped shape his career.
We sat down with Dorsey to learn more about We Are the Drum and the Scribe and what this exhibition means to him.
Q: Najee, tell me how this exhibition came to be.
A: The exhibition really grew out of my relationship with Mike. When I was living in Columbus, he was one of the few people in the arts community that I built a strong, lasting relationship with. We stayed in touch over the years and always talked about doing a project together, so this felt like a natural extension of that conversation.
Q: Tell me about the collection itself. Did you curate the show?
A: Yes, I curated the exhibition. The works come from artists we live with and artists we represent or work closely with as part of the Black Art in America holdings and the BAIA family. These are artists whose practices we believe in deeply. Many of them have had significant museum exhibitions, art fair placements, and institutional recognition. They’re highly sought after.
My wife, Seteria, and I have been actively collecting art almost our entire marriage, so this exhibition reflects that journey. Visitors will see a mix of legacy and contemporary artists—award-winning, museum-collected artists who are making meaningful contributions to the field.
The work spans a wide range of mediums: painting, mixed media, sculpture, ceramics, and multimedia. One example is a piece by Carl Joe Williams—a television set that incorporates a media player component, but is also sculptural and painted. It’s a broad, dynamic presentation.
Q: When you’re curating from your own collection, what is that process like? How do you decide what makes it into the exhibition?
A: Curating is something we do all the time. I curate as an artist, as a gallerist, through art fairs, through experiences, even through our website. Finding the gems is the easy part. The real challenge was narrowing it down. The 40-plus works in this exhibition probably represent only about 10 percent of our total collection. These are artists we work closely with. My mentor, Najjar Abdul-Musawwir played a pivotal role in my career. Had I not met him, I honestly don’t know if I’d be in this space today.
We were also fortunate to acquire works by artists such as Kerry James Marshall — artists whose work has sold for tens of millions at auction. While the pieces in the show aren’t valued at that level, they’re still significant.
Overall, we wanted to tell a broad story. You’ll see landscapes, abstractions, mixed media, and photographic works across multiple subject matters and mediums. There’s also a beautiful quilt by Beverly Smith included. It’s a great way for people to get a sense of the artists we’re excited about and the range of creative expression they represent.
Q: What does it mean to bring this exhibition back to Columbus?
A: Columbus was really good to me. The Columbus Museum gave me my first solo museum exhibition, and I built so many meaningful relationships while I was there.
To bring this caliber of work—by nationally and internationally renowned artists—back to Columbus feels like a celebration. It’s about celebrating the arts, celebrating the artists, and celebrating the community that supported me early on. I still have so many great relationships in Columbus, and coming back after living there for seven years and being away for about five just feels like the right moment to return and honor that connection.
Q: Why should our audience engage with this exhibition? What do you hope people take away from it?
A: This exhibition gives the Columbus community access to artists who are truly blazing trails—artists whose work is selling out at art fairs and being shown in major museums around the world. These are artists you’d normally travel to New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Basel, or Switzerland to see. Instead, this work is right here in your hometown.
Many of these artists are actively shaping the field. They’re being written about, studied, and discussed. Some are central to the scholarship around American and African American art. Artists like Dr. David Driskell—one of the foremost scholars of African American art, a National Academy member, and the curator of the seminal exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art.
These are historians. These are culture-shapers. These are essential voices in the American art canon—and they’re right in your backyard. I’d encourage people to take advantage of that and come celebrate with us.
We Are the Drum and the Scribe: Black Art in America Collection
For Columbus, Georgia this exhibition is more than an art show—it’s an invitation. An opportunity to encounter artists shaping contemporary and art-historical discourse without leaving home. And a reminder that the city’s cultural ecosystem is strong enough to hold work of this caliber. As Dorsey points out, these are artists you might expect to see in New York, Los Angeles, or Basel—but for a moment, they’re here, ready to be experienced, considered, and celebrated. ◼️
If You Go:
We Are the Drum and the Scribe: Black Art in America Collection will be on display January 20th - May 16th, 2026 at The Bo Bartlett Center. For more information please click here.