Petrucci Family Foundation Acquires Jamele Wright Sr.’s Levitate #9

Petrucci Family Foundation Acquires Jamele Wright Sr.’s Levitate #9

Following its Atlanta airport installation, the monumental work enters one of the nation’s important collections of African American art.

Black Art In America is pleased to announce that the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art has acquired Levitate #9, a monumental 2024 work by Atlanta-based artist Jamele Wright Sr.

The  127 × 80 inch, mixed media, Dutch wax fabric, and GA red clay work was acquired on the heels of its public installation at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, placing Wright’s work in front of an international audience before entering one of the country’s most respected public-facing private collections of African American art.

“This is the moment collectors pay attention to,” said Najee Dorsey, founder of Black Art In America. “Jamele Wright Sr. is building a serious body of work, and Levitate #9 carries the kind of power, history, and material presence that belongs in major collections. The Petrucci acquisition confirms what many of us already knew — Jamele is an artist to have on your radar.”

Rooted in the history of the Great Migration, Levitate #9 transforms fabric, pouches, knots, strings, and Georgia red clay into what Wright describes as a kind of power object. The work speaks to movement, protection, ancestral memory, Southern land, and the spiritual bridge between Africa and America.

The acquisition arrives during a strong period of momentum for Wright. In recent years, his work has been featured at the Albany Museum of Art, the Gibbes Museum, Zuckerman Museum, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. His work is also represented in collections including the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art, Clark Atlanta Museum, University of Maryland, and multiple Fortune 500 Companies.

For collectors, Levitate #9 marks more than a major acquisition. It signals the rise of an artist whose work is moving with urgency across public space, museum context, and serious collections. Wright’s practice sits at the intersection of abstraction, textile, Black vernacular history, and Southern material culture — a space that feels both deeply rooted and urgently contemporary.

“At BAIA, our work is not only to sell art, but to help place significant works in collections and conversations that they belong” Dorsey said. “This acquisition is part of that work.”

Levitate #9 now joins the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection as a defining work in Wright’s expanding practice and a powerful marker of his growing importance in contemporary African American art.