A new exhibit at Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum presents photographs of Atlanta soccer, football and basketball fans in the myriad places they converge, from stadiums to tailgate parties.
Despite this, photographer Sheila Pree Bright does not consider herself a fan.
“No, I don’t watch sports,” she says. “My family, they’re all cheering and everything, and I’m just looking at them, like. . .” Bright shakes her head.
The fine-art photographer was born in Waycross, Georgia, grew up in a variety of places as a member of a military family, and now makes her home in Atlanta. She has documented a Black farming community in Ellenwood, Georgia, as well as Civil Rights activists and 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
She got her start photographing the burgeoning hip-hop scene in 1990s Houston. Her work hangs in the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the High Museum of Art.
When she turned her camera lens on sports fans, she was surprised to realize they had more in common with her previous subjects than she’d thought.
“The game is really about community. It’s about fellowship,” she says. “These photographs go beyond the spectacle” of sports, she adds.
“Footwork: Where We Gather” is on view through July 19.
“Sheila’s images of fan culture really bring out a sense of belonging and community,” she says. “Regardless of their cultural background, they’re coming together over this one thing. It’s a special kind of passion.”
The exhibit is part of a larger program highlighting soccer ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 games through events at Woodruff Library, the Carlos Museum and Emory’s Oxford College campus. Atlanta is one of 11 U.S. cities slated to host the games starting June 15.
Bright has found fellowship of her own at Emory’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Books Library, which houses several of her photography collections.
“That [relationship] gives me a sense of, believe it or not, family,” says Bright, explaining that the Rose Library’s successes in preserving and celebrating African American history and culture resonate with her own artistic mission.
“The work they do is so important, and I’m excited about this exhibit at the Carlos,” she says.
Afficionados of Bright’s photography can expect more. The Carlos exhibit has inspired her to continue taking photos of sports fan culture. She would like, eventually, to publish a book on the topic.
This summer, Bright plans to photograph the World Cup’s Atlanta games as the brand ambassador for Leica Camera.
The photographer who isn’t a sports person says she’s thrilled.
“I’m looking forward to the fans,” she says, “and all the diversity there. What I’m looking to see is this thread of different communities coming together, because even when this noisy event is going on, I feel like the world is stopped in these moments where we gather.”
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