BIO

Adam Forrester is a writer, filmmaker and visual artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. His fiction and essays have been published in The Baltimore Review, Drain Magazine, and BULL, among others. His film and television work has been nominated for a Georgia Film Critics Association Award (2025), won an Emmy (Southeast), been distributed via PBS across the US, and screened at DOC NYC, IFF Boston, ATL Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, indie grits, Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

His expanded media works have been screened and exhibited nationally and internationally, most notably at the Historic Center of Kalamata in Greece, Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Poland, Weinberg/Newton Gallery in Chicago, Soap Factory in Minneapolis, STOVE WORKS in Chattanooga, and as part of the 2021 Atlanta Biennial at Atlanta Contemporary. Most recently, he co-curated (Im)Posibilidades: Performance Art for Video at Ogden Contemporary Arts.

Forrester earned an MFA in fiction from Georgia State University as well as an MFA in visual art from the University of Georgia. He still considers it a bit odd to write about himself in third person.

 

EDUCATION

2025 MFA, Creative Writing, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia
2014   Werner Herzog Rogue Film School, Los Angeles, California
2013   MFA, Photography & Expanded Media, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
2006 BSEd, Art Education, Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia


EXHIBITIONS / SCREENINGS

2025
Out on Film Film Festival, Tara Theater, Atlanta, GA
(Im)Posibilidades: Performance Art for Video, Ogden Contemporary Arts, Ogden, UT [co-curator]
2024
Overlook: Assorted Viewpoints en Plein Air, whitespec, Atlanta, Georgia
BronzeLens Film Festival, Atlanta, GA
2023
Truly, in All Sincerity, Grunwald Gallery of Art, Indiana University-Bloomington, IN [curated by Linda Tien]
2022
SOUTHERN EXIGENCY, The Anderson, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
Tell Me a Story, Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, Georgia [curated by Henry Horenstein]
Together is Better, STOVE WORKS, Chattanooga, TN
Jacksonville Film Festival, Jacksonville FL
Saturday Cinema: The Art of Tinkering, Osher Gallery at the Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
2021
SPE West x Southwest Film Festival, Society for Photographic Education Southwest Chapter
BROOD X, Stove Works, Chattanooga, TN
BronzeLens Film Festival, Eventive (Virtual Screening), Atlanta, GA
Virtual Remains, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia [curated by TK Smith]
2020
Archive(d), whitespec, Atlanta, Georgia - [solo exhibition]
Indie Grits Film Festival, Nickelodeon Theatre, Columbia, South Carolina
New Orleans Film Festival, The Orpheum Theater, New Orleans, Louisiana
Oxford Film Festival, Malco Theatre, Oxford, Mississippi
Salem Film Fest, Salem Access Television, Salem, Massachusetts
2019
DOC NYC, Cinépolis Chelsea, New York, New York
Carrboro Film Festival, The ArtsCenter, Carrboro, North Carolina
TRANCEND, 9th Annual Art of Community Exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia
Rome International Film Festival, DeSoto Theatre, Rome, Georgia
Indie Grits Film Festival, Nickelodeon Theatre, Columbia, South Carolina
SideWalk Film Festival, Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, Alabama
20th Annual ART PAPERS Art Auction, Southern Exchange Ballrooms, Atlanta, Georgia
2018
New Orleans Film Festival, The Orpheum Theater, New Orleans, Louisiana
NOVA, 8th Annual Art of Community Exhibition, West Whitehall Street, Atlanta, Georgia
do it, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama
Digital Graffiti: A Projection Art Festival, Alys Beach, Florida
Atlanta Film Festival, Plaza Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia
International Film Festival: ZOOM - ZBLIZENIA, Kino Lot Theatre, Jelenia Góra, Poland
2017
Landscapes and Interventions, HATHAWAY | Contemporary Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
Vision All Together, Durango Arts Center, Durango, Colorado - [Curator]
Fast Forward // Rewind, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, Georgia
WonderRoot's Generally Local Mostly Independent Film Series, Plaza Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia
2016
Edge to Edge, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, Georgia
Every Five Minutes, ARTlab, Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia - [Co-Curator with Joshua Dudley Greer]
Independent Film Festival Boston, Sommerville Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts
SideWalk Film Festival, Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, Alabama
Sheffield Doc/Fest, The Showroom Cinema, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK
Atlanta Film Festival, 7 Stages Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia
Indie Grits Film Festival, Nickelodeon Theatre, Columbia, South Carolina
Milledgeville Film Festival, Russell Auditorium, Milledgeville, Georgia
Sense Off, TWIXTlab: art, anthropology, & the everyday, Athens, Greece
Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Fiesta Theatre, Santa Barbara, California
Thin Line Film Fest, Campus Theatre, Denton, Texas
Twister Alley Film Festival, Woodward Theatre, Woodward, Oklahoma
2015
Field Study, Filter Photo Festival, Chicago, Illinois
Landlocked Film Festival, Englert Theatre, Iowa City, Iowa
Rome International Film Festival, DeSoto Theatre, Rome, Georgia
Deep End, The Wassaic Project Summer Exhibition, Maxon Mills, Wassaic, New York
ARCANUM: Video & Animation Festival, D'Clinic Studios, Lendava, Slovenia
Summer Vacation, Gallery @ Indigo, Athens, Georgia
Four Acts of Movement: A Study of Stillness, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, California
Live-Action, MINT Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
Digital Graffiti: A Projection Art Festival, Alys Beach, Florida
Ever So Much More So, Goat Farm Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Eat White Dirt, Patrick Theater, The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia
2014
Atlanta Celebrates Photography: Ones to Watch, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
ReCulture III: RISK, Skagiopoulio Foundation, Patras, Greece
Picture Books, Power Plant Gallery, Durham, North Carolina
Videholica International Video Art Festival, Graffit Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria
Ain't Bad at Art Now, Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia
9/50 Summit, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Wayfinding Film Festival, Public Art Installation, Wassaic, New York | Portland, Maine | Providence, Rhode Island
AIVA International Video Art Festival, Public Art Installation, Finspång, Sweden
southXeast: Southeastern Contemporary Art, Ritter Art Gallery, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
Live Amateurs: All-Media Juried Exhibition, MINT Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
2013
Video Art Festival Miden, Historic Center of Kalamata, Kalamata, Greece
SUBRISE - das FilmFestival, Naxos-Union Factory Floor, Frankfurt, Germany
Recession Art Presents: Facts and Fictions, Invisible Dog Art Center, Brooklyn, New York
Encoding Identities: Spectatorship and the Subject, DC3 Art Projects, Edmonton, Canada
Echoes of Eco, 6th International Winter Festival of Arts, Sochi Winter Theater, Sochi, Russia
Double Vision II: Multi-Channel Video Art Festival, Herron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis, Indiana
International Show and Tell Media Festival, Fluorescent Gallery, Knoxville, Tennessee
REACH Film and Video Fest, Popcorn Noir, Easthampton, Massachusetts
Kentucky National 2013, Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky
Abstraction, The Keirnan Gallery, Juror - Matthew Gamber, Lexington, Virginia
THE 01 Video Art Review, Bunkier Sztuki Contemporary Art Gallery, Krakow, Poland
Louisiana Purchase: 2nd National Biennial Juried Exhibition, LA Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana
ALTERNATIVES: Borders and Boundaries, Ohio University, School of Art, Athens, Ohio
MFA Thesis Candidates Exhibition, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia
2011
Atlanta Celebrates Photography Film Fest: Still Motion, Goat Farm Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia
McNeese National Works on Paper, Abercrombie Gallery, Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lyndon House Arts Center Juried Exhibit, Lyndon House Arts Center, Athens, Georgia
2008
Slow Exposures Photography Exhibition, R.F. Strickland Building, Concord, Georgia


LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS

2021
Southern Identity, Place, and Authorship Panel Discussion for South Summit 2021, New Orleans Film Society, New Orleans, LA
Contemporary Talks | Virtual Remains, Artist Talk with Artemus Jenkins Moderated by TK Smith,
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA
2020
Visiting Artist, Western Michigan University, Frostic School of Art, Kalamazoo, Michigan
2018
Artist Talk, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama
2017
Curator Lecture, Durango Arts Center, Durango, Colorado
Visiting Artist, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dept. of Art and Art History, Birmingham, Alabama
2016
Panelist, Southern Studies Conference, Auburn University at Montgomery, Montgomery, Alabama
2015
Artist Lecture, The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia
Artist Presentation, Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization (HERO), Greensboro, Alabama
Artist Presentation, Goat Farm Arts Center, Atlanta, Georgia
2014
Visiting Artist, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
2013
Artist Presentation, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Visiting Artist, Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia
Visiting Artist, DC3 Art Projects, Edmonton, Canada
Artist Lecture, Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
2012
Visiting Artist, Crater Lake National Park, Crater Lake, Oregon


RESIDENCIES, GRANTS, & AWARDS

2025
Runner Up, Best Documentary Short, Out on Film Festival, Atlanta, GA
Oglethorpe Award for Excellence in Georgia Cinema (Nominee), Georgia Film Critics Association Awards
2024
Artist-in-Residence, The Hambidge Center, Rabun Gap, GA
2023
Emmy® Award (Southeast), Co-Director, “Crisis of Substance”
IDA Documentary Awards, Best Curated Series Nominee, “Jared Dawson is the Church of Lavonia Elberton,”
Reel South, Season 8, PBS, UNC-TV
2021
Artist-in-Residence, Stove Works, Chattanooga, TN
2020
Early Production Lab Fellow, UnionDocs, New York, NY
2019
Rural Project Fellowship Grant, Indie Grits Labs, Columbia, South Carolina
Reel South SHORT Award, Sidewalk Film Festival, Birmingham, Alabama
2018
Artist-in-Residence, The Creatives Project, Atlanta, Georgia (2018-2020)
SDF Research and Development Grant, Southern Documentary Fund, Durham, North Carolina
2017
Idea Capital Research and Development Grant, Idea Capital, Atlanta, Georgia
Artist-in-Residence, AIR Serenbe, Chatahoochee Hill, Georgia
2016
Seed & Spark Award, Atlanta Film Festival, Atlanta, Georgia
Best Documentary Short, Milledgeville Film Festival, Milledgeville, Georgia
2015
On Our Radar, Creative Capital Foundation, New York, New York
Best Documentary Short, Landlocked Film Festival, Iowa City, Iowa
Best Documentary Short, Rome International Film Festival, Rome, Georgia
Curator's Choice Award, Digital Graffiti, Curated by Brett Phares, Alys Beach, Florida
2014
Artist-In-Residence, Wassaic Residency Program, Wassaic, New York
Atlanta Celebrates Photography: Ones to Watch, Mary Stanley Studio, Atlanta, Georgia
Student Technology Grant, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana
2013
Artist-In-Residence, Little Brown Mushroom Storytelling Camp, St. Paul, Minnesota
Top 25: Photography, Creative Quarterly, The Journal of Art and Design
2012
Artist-In-Residence, Crater Lake National Park, Crater Lake, Oregon
Willson Center for Humanities and Arts Research and Performance Grant, Athens, Georgia
2011
Juror‘s Award of Merit, 36th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Juror Carla Hanzal, Athens, Georgia


PRESS

Gina Cavallo, Bodies on Screen: The Power of Performance Video in OCA’s
“(Im)Posibilidades,” Artists of Utah, September 4, 2025
Les Roka, Ogden Contemporary Arts’ (Im)Posibilidades: Performance Art for Video is
Marvelous Sampling of Media Possibilities, The Utah Review, October 2, 2025
Jeremy Redmon, Film on Acclaimed Zora Neale Hurston Biographer to Debut in Atlanta,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 20,2024
Heather Leighton, Filmmaker Interview: 'Jared Dawson and the Church of Lavonia Elberton'
filmmaker speaks on the joy found in all, REEL SOUTH: Filmmaker Feature, May 7, 2023
Rosalin Bentley, 2020 Reverberates at This Year’s Atlanta Biennial Exhibition,
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 15, 2021
Andrew Wasserman, Restoring the Archives Building: An Interview with Adam Forrester,
Atlanta Studies, Emory Center for Digital Scholarship, October 2, 2018
Lara Wagner, A Behind the Scenes Look at the Newest Studio Artists of The Creatives Project,
Gather Good, December 1, 2017
Andrew Alexander, Artist-Funded Grants Seed Creative Ideas in 2017, Atlanta Journal-Constitution,  January 6, 2017
Catherine Rush, Director Adam Forrester Digs Into Stigmatized Southern Delicacy in
      'Eat White Dirt', ArtsATL, April 1, 2016
Paul Edwards, Dishing the Dirt, Smith Journal, Volume 16, pp. 40-42, September 2015
Jeff Rich, EYES ON THE SOUTH: Adam Forrester, Oxford American Magazine, September 29, 2014
Christopher Kimball, Eating White Dirt: Investigation of the World's Strangest Food Obsession,
      PRX: America's Test Kitchen, Boston, MA, August 16, 2014
Emelyn Rude, The American South is Still Eating White Dirt, VICE Magazine: Munchies, July 23, 2014
Linda Chen, The Old and Mysterious Practice of Eating Dirt, Revealed, NPR: The Salt, April 2, 2014
Chuck Reece, The Down & Dirty: Making Peace with the Age-Old Practice of Eating White Dirt,
     The Bitter Southerner, February 25, 2014
Jonathan D. Marcus, FAU Exhibit Spotlights Contemporary Art, Sun Sentinel, February 7, 2014
Jenna Garrett, Fascinating Documentary Investigates the Strange Practice of Southerners who 'Eat White Dirt',
      Feature Shoot, January 16, 2014
Jim Reed, Favourite Photobooks of 2013: A Book Man's Book List, GUP Magazine,December 5, 2013
Jesse Veverka, Focus on Filmmakers: Adam Forrester, The Clyde Fitch Report, September 23, 2013
Katy Ganaway, The Talk of Troy, WTSU Troy Public Radio, Montgomery, AL, September 6, 2013
Cynthia Adams, A PHENIX RISING: The Beautiful Polarity of Adam Forrester's Works,
     The Graduate School Magazine, Summer 2013, pp. 10-15


PUBLICATIONS

2025
Goat Rock, BULL, Fall 2025
2023
Ray’s Fine Foods, Baltimore Review, Spring 2023
The Bottom, The Airgonaut, February 2023
There and Back Again, Nonfiction Filmmaking for the Screen, ed. Charles Dye, Focal Press [essay]
2022
Up and Down and Back Again, Drain: A Journal of Contemporary Art and Culture, (un)built: Vol:18:1, 2022 [essay]
Window #76, Oxford Magazine, Issue #49
2021
Surprised to See You, South Summit 2021, New Orleans Film Society, New Orleans, LA [essay]
2018
And Light Followed the Flight of Sound, One Day Projects, Williamsburg, Virginia, [available here]
2016
Inspired Georgia, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, [available here]
2014
Oranbeg NET 05: Bastards, Oranbeg Press, Boston, Massachusetts
2013
Creative Quarterly: The Journal of Art and Design, Issue 32, New York, New York
Incandescent Magazine, Issue 3, Pine Island Press, Portland, Oregon
Supermoon, Self-Published Edition of 300, Athens, Georgia
2011
Flagpole Magazine, Volume 25, Issue 28, Athens, Georgia
2009
Appendix Magazine, Premier Issue, Milan, Italy
Oxford American Magazine, Issue 65, The Best of the South, Little Rock, Arkansas


COLLECTIONS

David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, GA
The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Pike Historic Preservation Society, Pike County, Georgia