Lisa Cremin, Atlanta

Background: Cremin is the director of the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund, which gives grants to nonprofit arts and culture organizations with budgets of less than $1.5 million. The grants are designed to strengthen the business side of the groups, so they can focus on what they do best. Cremin collects contemporary photography, displayed in the Midtown home she shares with her husband, a lighting designer for film and television, and their children.

Jason Getz / jgetz@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Lisa Cremin keeps 'Sunflower,' a Polaroid by Chuck Close dated 1989, in one of her darkest rooms because its vibrant, rich colors brighten the space.

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Favorite piece: "Sunflower," by Chuck Close, dated 1989. The photo is a rare large-scale Polaroid, taken with a "camera the size of a small room," Cremin says. The colors are vibrant and rich, but also a little less stable than those in other contemporary prints, so Cremin hung the photo in one of her darkest rooms, the dining room.

Why she likes it: "I was very close to this piece when it was made," says Cremin. She was the founder and executive director of Photographers and Friends United Against AIDS in New York City, and this photo was part of a portfolio sold to collectors to raise money for AIDS research, treatment and awareness. "I was losing friends — artists, mostly," she said. "It was really crippling the field. The visual arts, performing arts, all the arts." Well-known photographers, including Richard Prince, William Wegman and Cindy Sherman, donated their work to the portfolio, which raised $1.5 million for the cause. She is most fond of the Close photo, which she describes as a "beautiful, inspiring, melancholy image. If you know Chuck Close's paintings and photography, he's probably best known for his portraits. It's fun to look at this piece and think of it as a portrait. To me, it looks like a portrait of a wise person."

My Favorite Piece is a way to let Atlantans talk about the best-loved works in their collections. If you have a suggestion, email Kirsten Tagami at ktagami@ajc.com.