If art is visual poetry then contemporary fine artist Shanequa Gay is the Virgil of the 21st century. She has her paintbrush on the pulse of the people. Embedded into the essence and fiber of her work are stories of community. An Atlanta native and alum of the Art Institute of Atlanta, Savannah College of Art and Design, and Georgia State University, a key element of Gay’s multifaceted work is hybridity. She told Georgia State University Magazine that, “Atlanta culture as a whole is a hybrid, and as Americans, we’re all a mesh of things.”