You Are Cordially Invited to Attend:

Race on the Outside: Art, Architecture,
and the Quest for Spatial Justice

Exhibition Viewing and Panel Discussion

Monday, July 2, 5:00-6:45 pm
Design Workshop
125 S. Clark Street, Suite 660
RSVP Suggested

Please join acclaimed Chicago photographer Tonika Lewis Johnson as she discusses her latest bodies of work which explore the ways in which individual bodies of color and entire neighborhoodsare unapologetically racialized through the press, policing (formal and self-approinted individuals) and public policy.

Creator of the “Folded Map” project, Johnson joins forces with the landscape architecture and urban planning firm, Design Workshop, which is housing her exhibition “On the Outside” to discuss historic and contemporary encroachments on the free movement of people of color in public space. The panel will also feature Johnson’s gallerist, Tracie D. Hall, Founder of Rootwork Gallery and co-curator of this exhibition with Angel Ysaguirre, Executive Director of Illinois Humanities.
Program Schedule
• 5-5:30pm. Reception and exhibition viewing
• 5:30-6:30pm. Panel Discussion
• 6:45 pm. Program ends

Limited space is available. Please RSVP to confirm your attendance

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About the Exhibition:
Recognized for her empathetic portrayal of Englewood, the Chicago neighborhood in which she was reared, Tonika L. Johnson uses photography to counter the deficit-based narratives that surround her community and others like it. In describing how her mission to capture the everyday beauty of her neighborhood has contributed to the development of her craft as a photographer, Johnson has said, “Even though I’ve been doing photography for years, it was really home that continued to encourage and empower me. Home is the root of all my support. I never would’ve thought that my photographs meant more than what I thought of them without the community telling me.”

The mounting of this exhibition reflects Design Workshop’s interest in where the realms of community, environment, art, and economics overlap and intersect with social justice. Sharing Johnson’s ongoing concern with increasing the visibility of the assets that exist in high needs, under-resourced neighborhoods, members of Design Workshop note: “We are interested in areas that through planning have been removed from connectivity with the city. Currently, the work we are doing is about reconnecting those communities; we are doing a lot of re-stitching. We are seeking to learn what a community is like from the people who are there.”

“Inside the Outside” is curated by Rootwork Gallery, an experimental art space showcasing works that have healing, reconciliation, or the investigation of folk, street and indigenous cultures at their core. Illinois Humanities is the exhibition’s proud co-presenter. Working to strengthen the social, political, and economic fabric of Illinois through constructive conversation and community engagement, Illinois Humanities’ strategic focus areas include art, access and public policy.

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Tags: 2 Race on the Outside: Art, Architecture + Spatial Justice, Chicago, Design Workshop, Loop, Tonika L. Johnson