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DUNWOODY, Ga.—Perimeter College at Georgia State University will host its fifth annual Mario A.J. Bennekin Black History Symposium Feb. 17-21, 2025, with a keynote address from Tim Fielder, an award-winning illustrator, concept designer, cartoonist, animator—and Perimeter College alumnus.
The symposium theme is “Echoes of Resilience: Black Artistry, History and Identity.”
“We are beyond excited to welcome Tim Fielder back to Perimeter as an alum and as our main presenter for February’s event,” said Dr. Kimberly Bennekin, a math professor at the college and co-chair of the event named to honor her late husband who also taught at Perimeter.
The Bennekins were first introduced to Fielder’s work in 2018, when they attended the opening day of his art installation called “Matty’s Rocket” at the Hammonds House Museum in Atlanta. “Matty’s Rocket” won the prestigious 2018 Glyph Comics Award, which recognizes the best in comics made by, for and about people of color.
Fielder’s keynote presentation is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. in the Perimeter College Dunwoody Campus auditorium at 2101 Womack Rd.
Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Fielder has a passion for Visual Afrofuturism, Pulp entertainment and action films, hailing other Afrofuturists such as Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, Pedro Bell and Overton Loyd as major influences.
Fielder is the creator of the graphic novels “INFINITUM: An Afrofuturist Tale,” published by HarperCollins Amistad in 2021, the Glyph Award-winning “Matty’s Rocket” and “The Graphic History of Hip Hop.” He’s also known for participating in the Carnegie Hall Afrofuturism Festival exhibit “Black Metropolis” and The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture exhibit “AFROFUTURISM A History of Black Futures.”
Most recently, Fielder, who now lives in New York, participated in the United Nations' Summit of the Future as one of the featured artists.
Fielder started his college education at Jackson State University’s School of Visual Arts before moving to Atlanta. He took classes at Georgie Perimeter College in 1986, before moving to New York and attending New York University.
The Black History Symposium, named for Mario Bennekin, will feature a week-long lineup of sessions coordinated and presented by Perimeter College and other educators and researchers. Bennekin was a beloved history professor and chair of the History and Political Science department at Perimeter, who taught for 20 years before passing in 2019. He spearheaded bringing the African-American Studies curriculum to Perimeter.
The annual Mario A.J. Bennekin Symposium is free and open to the public.