Susan J. “Sue” Ross
Sue Ross is a “photo-griot” with a specialization in documenting images which portray the comings and goings of the African-American community – cultural, political, social and economic.
Sue served in city government for over 36 years - through the administrations of all six Atlanta African-American Mayors. She held a variety of positions - most revolving around minority & female business development and/or communications/media relations and public administration.
Sue developed and managed the Small Business Development Program - training over 500 small, minority & female owned firms to improve their internal infrastructure & to do business with the city. Although she held a managerial position she served as the unofficial & sometimes official city photographer.
Sue was educated at Pomona College, Atlanta University and Stanford University.
She was honored by The Atlanta Journal Constitution during Black History Month in February 2024.
Recently, Sue and Jim Alexander had a retrospective exhibit PARALLEL PERSPECTIVES at the Path Museum in Buckhead. Currently, Sue and Jim Alexander have an exhibit A PHOENIX REBORN in the Mayor’s Gallery at Atlanta City Hall celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the election of the first Black Mayor Maynard Jackson and exploring his legacy through the years. Her work is also in the exhibit EmpowerHER which opened on March 8 at the Emma Darnell Aviation Museum and Conference Center.
In 2023, the National Black Arts Festival honored Sue, Camille Love & Alice Lovelace as “Champion For The Arts”.
In 2021, Sue was named a REMARKABLE honoree and her work was in the REMARKABLE exhibit at ZuCot Gallery. She was named a 2021 Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association for her documentation of Jazz in Atlanta.
The Office of Cultural Affairs honored her in the 2018 Elevate Atlanta SWATS Artists Mural in Southwest Atlanta.
In 2019 she received a number of awards; Rolling Out magazine Social Justice Award at Sisters with Superpowers; The Arts Xchange Arts & Justice Bridge Builder at the Ebon Dooley Awards; The Atlanta Business League lifetime achievements by induction in the ABL Women’s Hall of Fame at Super Tuesday Women of Vision Breakfast.
Sue was the photographer for many Atlanta events including the annual Dream Jamborees, the 1988 Democratic Convention, the Atlanta Third World Film Festivals, the Atlanta Jazz Festivals, the Nelson Mandela visits, King Week, the National Black Arts Festivals, the Centennial Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and as the informal, and sometimes formal, chronicler of activities during the administrations of Atlanta’s five African-American mayors. Currently, she serves as vendor development manager for the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management.
She is a 2004 recipient of the Paul R. Jones Family Fund’s first national Spiral Award to Artists of Distinction and has been honored for her cultural work by the Trumpet Awards Foundation, Spelman College Digital Moving Image Salon, Rolling Out Magazine Top 25 Women in Atlanta, Who's Who in Black Atlanta, Welcome Magazine MECCA Award, Concerned Black Clergy, the Black Women Film Preservation Project, the Hammonds House Museum, the Center for Democratic Renewal and the Atlanta City Council. Sue is one of 5 photographers honored for their lifelong commitment to documenting African-American life and culture by the Georgia House of Representatives.
Sue is a founding member of Sistagraphy™: the collective of african-american women photographers, a member of MOCA and the Atlanta Photography Group. She serves on the boards of the Black Women Film Network, the BronzeLens Film Festival, the Hammonds House Museum, Nutrition Plus HHC and Sistagraphy.
Sue also served for many years on the boards of the National Black Arts Festival, the Atlanta African Film Society and the Metropolitan Atlanta Coalition of 100 Black Women.
Sue has exhibited her photography widely since 1985 with Zone III, Sistagraphy, African-Americans for the Arts (A-AFTA) and many others. Selected exhibits include “The World of Toni Morrison” at the Auburn Ave Research Library, “Sistagraphy Selects” at Buzz Coffee & Winehouse, “The Beauty of a Woman” at Haugabrooks Gallery, “Shero” at the Arts Xchange, “In Conversation - Visual Meditations on Black Masculinity” at the African-American Museum in Philadelphia and the Atlanta Jazz Festival public art exhibit Downtown. Her photo of Atlanta’s African-American Presidential Medal Honorees was the cover photo for Trendsetters to Trendsetters magazine. Her iconic photo SHEROES was featured in the FOR THE PEOPLE photo-mural exhibit along Auburn Avenue. Recently, Sue curated the BLACK HISTORY 365 exhibit at Atlanta City Hall.
