Getting free ain’t easy. With increased surveillance and widespread domestic militarization, in the real and online, freedom comes in the little moments – on accident and often with trouble. Whether it be a shared glance, a skipped line of code, a long walk, a distorted image, these loopholes of retreat – a term coined by Harriet Jacobs – are the tools we have to imagine our freedom here and across time. These artists are fugitives, creating refuge and release with their. Each carves out the complex layers of Blackness in otherworldly, virtual, and existential conditions – the types of deep and wide imaginations that can escape the confines of any system meant to destroy or demolish black people.

Our homie Fer, DIY stick and poke artist, will also be present doing tattoo designs. Come thru and get tatted while peeping next-level art.

Featuring:

Ireashia Monet | 3rdEyeChakra | Owe Engobor

Ireashia Monet

Ireashia Monét (https://www.ireashiamonet.com/) is a Chicago-based photographer, multimedia artist, and emerging filmmaker. In their work, Monét uses the camera as a weapon against erasure, silence, and the invisibility of marginalized communities and stories. They combine participatory media making, auto-ethnography, and collaborative co-authorship as methods of excavation and exploration of black queer narratives.

3rdEyeChakra

3rdeyechakra is a freelance digital and traditional artist born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina. They are self taught and have been pursuing a career in art since 2014. Using their love of sci-fi fantasy, their work centers around uplifting black women through art providing aesthetic appeal and political attention. With bold visuals they hope to shed new light on what it means to be a young black artist. Their most notable body of work can be found on their Instagram social media platform @3rd_eyechakra.

Owe Engobor

Owé Engobor is a costume designer, fashion stylist, artist, and scholar based in Chicago. They are queer, non binary and mixed Nigerian-American.Their work focuses on themes of environmentalism, afro-futurism, performance and gender.

By understanding outfit as environment they concern themselves with the fabric of the universe. Their research is an inquiry into the ways we inhabit a garment as a physical space ,how clothes shape people and how the environment shapes clothing. From this they create garments that are concerned with time and space travel. More specifically, on astral qualities of Blackness and space-time travel. Their designs are thoughtful, intentional and understand the power that clothing contains to transport us into different identities and environments, not outside of this world,but realities and dimensions folded into the fabric of existence. .

As a stylist they are interested in a highly collaborative process that results in thoughtful, representative, and avant garde images as an opportunity to highlight brands, designers, and individuals that reflect their social and political perspectives and challenge common narratives and systems of oppression. They believe strongly in the need for more ethical and sustainable practices as well as the representation of poc & qtpoc in the fashion industry.

Owé is currently completing their BFA in Costume Design at Depaul University in Chicago and works nationally as well internationally. In addition to being a student they run and operate their own label Plz Be Careful which is a genderless eco-friendly clothing line and community organization. Plz Be Careful seeks to create one of a kind,environmentally sustainable garments that use fashion as a platform for activism.

Curated by Darien Wendell and Bonita Africana, the creators of A Tribe Called Cxnt, hosting a platform for hip hop on the edge, focusing on queer, trans, & gender expansive culture makers of color.

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Tags: 3rdEyeChakra, A Tribe Called Cxnt, Bonita Africana, Chicago, Comfort Station Logan Square, Darien Wendell, Future Fugitives, Illinois, Ireashia Monét, Logan Square, Owe Engobor