unites five emerging Georgia women artists contemplating a strange and uncertain future. In a moment of dramatic cultural, political and environmental tumult, New Worlds—Georgia Women to Watch offers an opportunity to speculate on what our shared destinies might hold. The exhibition, organized by the Georgia Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, examines how our societal conditions have impacted artists’ visions for the future or inspired them to create alternative realities. When women artists envision a different world, how does that look?

New Worlds was co-curated by Melissa Messina and Sierra King and was presented at Atlanta Contemporary January 27-June 4, 2023.

 The Women to Watch exhibition is a highly-competitive exhibition held approximately every three years. A Georgia-based curator is invited to select a group of five Georgia women artists whose work fits within the exhibition’s theme. The program is designed to increase the visibility of, and critical response to, promising women artists. Additionally, the program seeks to incorporate high quality art professionals into the committees’ activities. Women to Watch is an exhibition program that features underrepresented and emerging women artists. The previous Women to Watch exhibition in 2020 was curated by the High Museum of Art’s Wieland family curator of modern and contemporary art, Michael Rooks.

The New Worlds: Georgia Women to Watch exhibition is an important move toward greater equity in the arts when major art museums across the United States have devoted the majority of their collection holdings to work by male artists.

 With a track record of supporting women artists (76% of its exhibiting artists are female), the non-profit alternative art space Atlanta Contemporary has a mission that aligns perfectly with the Georgia Committee’s goal to support and advocate for women artists in Georgia.