Meet the Artists of illumine 2025
illumine 2025 is just a seven weeks away, and we’re excited to share the talented and dynamic artists, curated by Cat Eye Creative, whose work will shine bright in Oakland after dark this April.
illumine, an evening event featuring colorful lighting displays, live music, and site-specific art installations designed for Oakland’s unique setting, will take place April 17-20 and 24-27.
In partnership with Cat Eye Creative, Historic Oakland Foundation proudly presents a dynamic lineup of Atlanta-based and internationally acclaimed artists whose work—spanning graffiti, sculpture, illustration, and more—will shed new light on Oakland’s historic landscape after dark.
“Each of the artists’ distinctive backgrounds and styles are as varied and unique as the residents of Oakland Cemetery,” says Adam Crawford, founder of Cat Eye Creative. “The artists’ visions truly capture the theme of What Remains, and with Oakland, we've created an exciting exhibition where the artists tell stories through sculpture, installations, and animations throughout the Oakland Cemetery grounds."
Stay tuned as we spotlight each artist and their vision in the coming weeks.
Vanna Black
Vanna Black is an illustrator, painter, and muralist with an expertise in digital communication. Having studied fine arts as an undergraduate at Georgia State University, she found her style relating back to African motif patterns and Japanese Illustrations of vast landscapes and floral aesthetics. Her art displays colorful, expressive, motion-filled imagery, titling each piece with the human essence in mind.
Vanna’s mission is to use composition, color, scale and balance to open the viewer's mind for internal reflections about one's own thoughts on the world we live in today and the perspective of others. She visualizes a world where everyone is nurturing each other while learning about how to be self-maintaining like Nature.
Vanna is a proud Atlanta native and grew up in the Ormewood and Grant Park neighborhoods. She has a Bachelors of Fine Arts with a concentration in Graphic Design from Georgia State University. Vanna had the pleasure of creating custom fine art for Hermès, LivingWalls Atlanta, City of Atlanta, Sustainable Forestry Industry, Canada Goose, and Foundry Commercial. She is currently a volunteer member of the social media team for CreativeMornings ATL Chapter and is part of the 2025 Cohort of the Paint Love nonprofit. Read more about Vanna here.
Kevin Chambers
Which came first, the artist or the inspiration? For Kevin Chambers, the artist was intrinsic, but inspiration came at age 12. That is when he started formal art training in Blairsville, Georgia with famed artist Colleen Sterling. “She was the first person I found that was making a living being an artist,” he says, “It’s the first time I realized it was a possibility for me.”
Chambers received a BFA in Media Arts and Animation from the Art Institute of Atlanta, a program that allowed him the latitude to develop his own personal style while he apprenticed for talented artists. He studied the figure with contemporary masters such as Glenn Villpu, Brian Booth Craig, and anatomical workshops with Andrew Cawrse.
Today, his works and collaborations are widely exhibited in national and international museums including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and corporate and private collections around the world, from Switzerland to Japan, Dubai and China.
Some of Chambers’ most significant commissions include 2 life-size bronze figures for the “Deep Time Exhibit” at The Smithsonian Museum, the Alpharetta Veteran’s Memorial depicting two 7’ bronze soldiers in a moment of pause on the battlefield, a 27’ assemblage sculpture for the headquarters of Google Atlanta, and “Kindred Revolution”: a family holding hands dancing in a circle for Emory Brain Health Center in memory of Mary Taylor Rose. Read more about Kevin here.
FRKO
FRKO, AKA Freako Rico, (born Richard Montgomery), is an Atlanta-based illustrator who mixes comics and hip-hop to create a world of hysterical, often belligerent, art. FRKO has drawn multiple album covers for Action Bronson, including the graphic identity for the album Mr. Wonderful, and the artwork for Gucci Mane’s “All My Children.” Previous projects include a group exhibition at THE GALLERY, WISH ATL, titled TRPL-DBL; a collaboration with the creative collective LoveRenaissance to design the iconic Reebok Classics, and drawing a Red Bull can for the Music Culture Clash, Atlanta.
As one of Atlanta’s local art heroes, FRKO’s artwork can be found throughout Atlanta in restaurants, entertainment venues, private collections, and on apparel worn by Atliens in the know. More on FRKO’s irreverent work here.
Bojana Ginn
Award-winning interdisciplinary artist, former medical doctor and scientist, Dr. Bojana Ginn works at the intersection of art, science, and technology. Ginn's journey from medicine to the arts is a testament to her belief in the healing power of creativity.
Her work explores the potential for wellness in digital and physical spaces, using art as a transformative tool to advocate for healthcare as a fundamental human right. Her innovative practice draws upon medical research on beneficial frequencies of light and rhythm, along with the psychology of color and shape, to craft experiences that nurture the mind and body.
She is a recipient of the prestigious national Ellsworth Kelly Award, granted by the Foundation for Contemporary Art in New York, Ginn exhibits in Atlanta, nationally, and internationally. Finalist for the World Technology Award in Art, Ginn served as a fellow at The World Technology Network, New York. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Architectural Biennale, Museum of Art and Design in New York, Espronceda Institute of Art and Culture in Barcelona, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, David J. Sencer CDC Museum in Atlanta, Cyber Center in Augusta, GA, Interni Magazine platform in Milan, Italy, New York’s Art and Science in America, and many others. Ginn often collaborates with scientific institutions, most notably the Georgia Institute of Technology Department of Astrophysics (NASA), and Emory University. Read more about Bojana here.
Angie Jerez
Angie Jerez is a Colombian muralist and visual artist based in Atlanta, GA. Born in Bogotá, she moved to the U.S. in 2012. With a background in graphic design, her work explores the relationship between nature and the urban environment, highlighting beauty in forgotten spaces. Through detailed linework, organic shapes, and vibrant compositions, she creates scenes where nature blends with urban surroundings, finding harmony in unexpected places. Read more about Angie here.
Navin June Norling
My art is a dynamic dialogue between modern pop imagery, urban graffiti-inspired color palettes, found objects covered in urban grit, and the richness of rural America. Through humor and irony, I create provocative sculptural objects and paintings that examine the complexity of American culture.
I deconstruct classic Americana, assembling fragments of popular culture, folklore, materialism, and social commentary into layered installations. Juxtaposing cultural stereotypes, consumer logos, Black Power figures, blackface imagery, cheap signage, and graffiti, I create dense, content-rich compositions that challenge notions of race, gender, class, and power.
Paintings are stacked and hinged like charms, while pieces of rural debris spill into the gallery space—forming an immersive, chaotic narrative reflective of the American experience. My installations are more than aesthetic exercises; they are meditations on capitalism, inequality, and identity. Blending personal and collective histories, they highlight the contradictions embedded in our national consciousness. Using humor as a tool for critique, I provoke conversations about the forces shaping our society—both past and present. Read more about Navin here.
VAYNE
VAYNE is an elusive, infamous graffiti artist from Atlanta, Georgia. Self-taught and multi-faceted, VAYNE has mastered not only the art of graffiti but also the art of choosing the perfect spot to maximize impact. VAYNE is internationally known, having blessed hundreds of cities with his style, spanning 4 continents and counting.
His exterior work is wide ranging, from corporate and residential commissions, to personal projects like billboards and bridge overpasses. In 2024, VAYNE set the record for the largest solo graffiti ever painted, a roller of his classic block letter style at 57,000 square feet. VAYNE can be found not only in the streets, but also in fine art galleries, on professional mural walls, in feature films, documentaries, tv shows, magazines, and more.
Showing gallery work since 2018, VAYNE continues to expand, creating contemporary art of many styles, all influenced by his graffiti roots. Today, VAYNE is more dedicated to his craft than ever before and is relentless in his pursuit to evolve and push the envelope. Read more about VAYNE here.
