Atlanta’s High Museum honors artist Alison Saar at 20th annual Driskell Prize Gala

Atlanta's High Museum of Art celebrated the 20th year of its prestigious Driskell Prize with a gala and afterparty honoring artist Alison Saar on Saturday night.

Founded in 2005 and named for historian and artist David C. Driskell, the award was the first of its kind to recognize "field-defining" contributions to African American art. The gala each year helps raise funds for an endowment dedicated to acquiring new works in the category.

This year's winner, Saar, is a Los Angeles-based artist known for her large installations, sculptural and mixed-media works, which reference literature and mythology as well as representing the contemporary African American experience.

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Saar's Soul Service Station is an art haven for travelers in Desert Hot Springs, Ca.

Credit: Lance Gerber, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

After a performance by the Spelman College Glee Club and an introduction by event Chair Charlene Crusoe-Ingram, High Museum director Rand Suffolk presented Saar with the award inside the museum's Taylor Lobby.

Her work delves "deeply into the histories of the African diaspora and its artistic traditions, exploring how they influence and connect to cultural identity today," he said, noting Saar's art "has been featured in hundreds of solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including the High."

Saar said receiving the prize was an "incredibly personal and profound honor, not only because it was here at the High Museum that Fertile Ground, one of my first solo exhibitions in the museum, was shown, but also because of my deep connection with David Driskell himself." 

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Singer John Legend performed at the 2025 Driskell Prize gala at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta on Sept. 20, 2025.

Credit: Derek White, courtesy of the High Museum of Art

Saar then stressed the importance of art in 2025: "As our stories are being erased from textbooks and the historical truths are under threat, and when our voices are being silenced in classrooms and across media, at this moment, this gathering feels vital," she said."It is a powerful reminder that we must continue to support one another, as friends, as neighbors, and even as strangers."

Singer John Legend performed a set, including his 2006 hit "Save Room," on a grand piano. After the presentation, the gala's attendees enjoyed an afterparty hosted by DJ  D-Nice.