By Donnell Suggs | Atlanta Voice

On Friday, March 20, the Candler Hotel in downtown Atlanta hosted a solo exhibition of Latryce Marie Golliday’s gallery, “Redemption,” bringing together nearly 30 works of sculpture, photography, and painting.

Golliday, a Michigan native who relocated to Atlanta roughly a decade ago, has spent the past two years building a full-time artistic practice after treating painting as a hobby for years. The exhibition, held in one of downtown Atlanta’s landmark spaces, marks a significant milestone in that transition.

The name “Redemption,” she said, reflects a deliberate emotional choice.

Transformation, acrylic on canvas. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

“I think I was feeling a lot of rage, and I think that rage sometimes will make you go into the mode of revenge,” Golliday said. “And to me, I had to grab hold of that emotion and turn it into something that is powerful and transformative. Redemption is the underdog story.”

That story is rooted in hardship. In 2022, a kidney illness led to the full removal of her left kidney. During her recovery, while still working in real estate, a friend encouraged her to channel her downtime into creating art for her home. It proved to be a turning point.

“I lost my kidney, but on the other side, I became an artist,” Golliday said. “I think that’s the story of redemption, all in itself, taking your negative experiences and making something beautiful.”

Down for The Ride. 30×13, Mixed Media, 2025. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

Golliday began painting 10 years ago after hosting a sip-and-paint event following the birth of her son. When a friend purchased her first painting, the moment sparked something she said she couldn’t ignore. She stepped fully into her artistic identity two years ago.

Among the exhibition’s works is the key art piece “Transformation,” which originated as a small self-portrait Golliday had gifted away to a friend. After a child tore the painting in half, she asked to have it returned and reworked it into a larger, more elaborate composition. She described the original as a reflection of the physical and emotional scars from her surgeries.

Head of Goliath. 18x 23.5, oil, oil pastel, acrylic on canvas, 2026. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

“That piece was a self-portrait, and it was a reflection of the scars that I have from my surgeries and things that I’ve gone through,” she said. “To see it ripped in half, it kind of just tore me apart. But I ended up asking if I could have it back so that I can rework the piece, and it turned into that incredible, elaborate piece.”

Another piece, “The 1st Will Be Last and the Last Will Be 1st,” was created while Golliday watched a multi-part documentary series, “Whited Out, exploring what she described as the erasure of Black history. She said she hopes the work resonates beyond any single community.

“I think the truth needs to be just universal,” she said. “We’re the human race. We’re all one people, and that’s where we should be right now.”

Peach and Overflow. Photo by Noah Washington/The Atlanta Voice

One piece in the exhibition draws from an unexpected source. While out on a morning workout, Golliday said she came across a downtown protest hosted by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service organization, and briefly joined in. The encounter, centered on themes of defending life, found its way into her work.

Another piece reinterprets the biblical story of David and Goliath, with Golliday casting herself as David. She described it as a meditation on spiritual resistance rather than physical confrontation, inspired in part by the Gil Scott-Heron poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”

“To me, it means it’s more of a spiritual revolution that’s going to happen,” she said. “I think that God will handle everything and balance everything out.”

Beyond her art, Golliday is the founder of Atlanta Art Club for Kids, a monthly meetup group that takes children to cultural experiences across the city. The group’s inaugural outing was to the High Museum of Art. She said the initiative grew from a desire to give children the kind of exposure she wished she had growing up in Benton Harbor, Michigan

Golliday said her aim with the exhibition is straightforward: to make people feel something beyond the grind of daily life.

“We’re all in this rat race of survival mode, hustle and bustle, just on the go,” she said. “I just want people to feel good and to feel magical. Like when I work, and I paint, I feel like I’m in heaven.”

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