MOCA GA / Calendar

Artist, critic, writer, poet, art historian and former professor of art history Amalia Amaki was born Linda Faye Peeks (1949) in Atlanta, GA, to Mary Lee and Norman Peeks, who had been a musician with the Deep South Boys of Macon.  A multifaceted artist and scholar known for her remarkable contributions to the world of contemporary art and academia, Amaki blends her passion for visual art with a commitment to social and cultural exploration.

She earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from Emory University, and has taught art history at Spelman and Morehouse Colleges; Atlanta College of Art; Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA; North Georgia College and State University, Dahlonega, GA; University of Delaware, Newark DL; and the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL. She has served as Curator of the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art, and has curated exhibitions throughout the United States.

Amaki has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Her photo-based artwork combines fabricated and found components to address implications of popular media, cultural assumption and commercialism.  Her 2005/2006 exhibition “Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons, and the Blues” brought together her photographs, quilts, souvenir fans and mixed-media works. It incorporated fabric, beads, pearls, buttons, paint, glitter and photographs with cultural symbols and visual puns, challenging and reconfiguring American history in original and meaningful way.  Amaki’s art often captures the lives of African women of the Diaspora through media from everyday life redefining the lives of past and present African American heroines and heroes and contrasting their depiction in the mainstream media. Amalia Amaki’s life and work continue to inspire and provoke thought, leaving an indelible mark on the contemporary art scene and the academic world.

All Permanent Collection works by Amalia Amaki

Above image: detail of Go To Church, 2021, Digital constructed photographs in Plexi-glas casing, 27.25 x 21.25 inches framed, by Amalia Amaki