Untitled (Atlanta’s Missing Children, Orange Rat)
Folk and Self-Taught Art

Search and Share Tools
Untitled (Atlanta’s Missing Children, Orange Rat)
Artwork Details
Artist/Maker
Nellie Mae Rowe
American, 1900–1982
American, 1900–1982
Date
1981
Medium
Crayon and pencil on board
Accession #
2003.168
Dimensions
Please contact the Museum for more information.
Location
Currently Not on View
Description
Nellie Mae Rowe depicted the void left by the nearly 30 children who went missing in Atlanta between 1979 and 1981, a crisis that was recently revisited by the popular true crime podcast Atlanta Monster. She represented them through absence, depicting a garden that seems incomplete without children playing in it, and a lonely dog who mourns their absence. In the roughly shaded spots between the flowers, tiny figures appear faintly, embodying her hope that some of the children might still be found alive.
Credit
Gift of Judith AlexanderImage Copyright
© Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe/High Museum of Art, Atlanta.