For Them, For Us
The Bakery presented For Them, For Us, a group exhibition curated by Clovis Goss, June 27 - July 6, 2025. The reception took place on the evening of June 29th, 2025 at The Supermarket on 638 North Highland Avenue Northeast and was on view until July 6th, 2025.
The artworks showcased in For Them, For Us were curated by Clovis Goss, an Atlanta-based queer Southern artist and curator who aims to uplift underrepresented queer voices, histories, and visions. By featuring the artworks of various artists, all of whom shared the mission of highlighting marginalized experiences, Goss ensured that the exhibit honored the trailblazers, caretakers, and visionaries whose lives and legacies paved the way for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Carrie Miller, an Atlanta-based filmmaker and founder of Lavender Lens, a queer film program, curated the live music performances that took place at the opening reception. (insert installation photo(s) below)
The sculptural work Boy Toy by Sage Bader-Gottlieb, an Atlanta-based fiber artist, addresses the unique wayfinding process involved in navigating spaces as a transmasculine person. The two life-size barbells represent the duality of the experience Bader-Gottlieb aimed to highlight.
“This soft sculpture represents the weight of existing both in a queer body and male-dominated spaces. The fleshy bar symbolizes the body tethered between these radically different modes of existence, yet still balanced between them. The physical form it takes on, as a lacy, even fragile skin covering a hard, structured mechanism, is how I feel in my flesh. The inside self vs the outside self as perceived by others.”
- Sage Bader-Gottlieb (he/him)
The exhibit embodies a connection to the very ethos that The Bakery Atlanta centers in all its practices, producing experiences that connect and inspire people through collaboration, experimentation, and play. The photography of Blake Pipes speaks to these themes by celebrating queerness and, through his work, sending a message that “encourages performers to take on the role of a character, [so] they are able to explore deeper meanings within those characters and within themselves…This is cultivated joy!”
Colleen Miller’s work, I wish I was a Lizard in the Spring, accomplishes a similar feat and clearly highlights the artist’s mission Miller aims to “investigate strength through queerness, softness, intimacy, and connection,” and their paintings successfully embody an “auric experience of intimacy, moments of connection felt in interactions with others, oneself, and the environment.” Miller’s painting portrays an abstract recipe for kinship, where all figures present are wearing smiles and denim alike. Their ability to capture the essence of the ideal Southern summer evening is informed by their upbringing in Atlanta, which allows them to “recontextualize familiar Southern experiences, drawing inspiration from folk music, Southern landscapes, and ideas of love and home.”
The bonding energy of sound and music is undeniable, a fact that was not lost upon Atlanta-based filmmaker and founder of Lavender Lens, a queer movie night program, Carrie Miller. A week before FTFU’s opening reception, Lavender Lens hosted a queer music video screening event at The Supermarket, showcasing the music videos of queer musicians and bands. On the merging of live music and film screenings in this exciting new chapter for Lavender Lens, Miller said:
“I thought it’d be a great way to give these artists more exposure, especially to a queer audience that gets them…Each artist brought their own unique energy, and together they created such a vibrant atmosphere. I’m always working to bring together different kinds of queer creatives — whether they’re filmmakers, painters, musicians, photographers, writers, or bookworms. And this event really confirmed how powerful that mix can be.”
- Carrie Miller (they/them) (left)
Makenna Lyric, a queer Atlanta-based singer-songwriter and musician, shared her admiration of Miller’s dedication to celebrating queerness, saying, “Carrie did a great job making everyone feel seen and welcomed, and the space allows for artists to immerse themselves in the music fully. It was a 10/10 concert, and I’m excited for the next one!” Thankfully, Miller intends to continue organizing similar events that highlight queer artists, providing the Atlanta community with optimal opportunities to be inspired, make meaningful connections, or even find love, which Miller says has happened before at one of their events.
For more information about the artworks displayed, see our gallery booklet.
