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Galleries Feature Contemporary Indian Art, Photography of Chicago’s Neighborhoods, and Collages Inspired by the Pilsen Community
CHICAGO, June 5, 2018—Global meets local at the Loyola University Museum of Art’s (LUMA) three exhibitions this summer: Following the Box, Folded Map, and Celestial House. Investigating themes of memory and space at home and abroad, these exhibitions will be on view from July 3 to October 20.
Following the Box is an innovative contemporary art exhibition and a visual dialogue between American and Indian artists over time. In 1945, an American soldier stationed in India took a series of photographs depicting everyday life in West Bengal. Nearly sixty years later, artists and curators Jerri Zbiral and Alan Teller discovered a box filled with these photographs at a Chicagoland estate sale. After tracing the photographs back to India, Zbiral and Teller invited 10 contemporary Indian artists to respond to the original images through painting, film, graphic illustration, folk art, and conceptual art. Each work explores the elusive nature of memory, political and military histories, and cultural identity. LUMA is pleased to be the first museum in the United States to host this exhibition.
Tonika Lewis Johnson’s ongoing Folded Map project connects residents who live at corresponding addresses in North and South Side neighborhoods of Chicago. Documenting architectural aspects of the neighborhoods and conversations between residents, Johnson demonstrates how a city of renowned institutions and robust tourism is also a city that struggles with issues of racial inequality and segregation. By comparing images of homes in Englewood in the south to Edgewater, Rogers Park, and West Ridge in the north, Folded Map invites the viewer to consider how segregation impacts Chicago neighborhoods and their residents.
Celestial House showcases vibrant mixed media work inspired by artist Victoria Martinez’s childhood home in the Pilsen community. Martinez weaves together domestic, soft materials such as wallpaper, curtains, and plastic flowers with images found throughout the neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side. Celestial House evokes the poetics of the urban environment and memories of home.
For additional information on these exhibitions, museum hours, and more, visit LUC.edu/luma.
Public Programming
All of the following events take place at LUMA, 820 N. Michigan Avenue.
Summer Exhibition Opening Reception
Friday, July 6, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Please join LUMA in celebrating the opening of this summer’s three featured exhibitions.
Following the Box Tour with Guest Curators and Visiting Artist
Saturday, July 7, 1-2:30 p.m.
Guest curators Jerri Zbiral and Alan Teller will lead a tour of their exhibition, Following the Box, with visiting artist Chhatrapati Dutta. Please join us for a firsthand account of what inspired the exhibition, how it evolved, and how it came to Chicago.
Artists in Conversation: Victoria Martinez and Edra Soto
Tuesday, August 7, 6-8 p.m.
Featured artist Victoria Martinez and Edra Soto, a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist, educator, and curator, will discuss Martinez’s work on view in Celestial House.
Artists in Conversation: Tonika Lewis Johnson and Paola Aguirre
Tuesday, September 4, 6-8 p.m.
Join LUMA for a conversation with featured artist Tonika Lewis Johnson and Paola Aguirre, an architectural and urban designer and professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Lewis Johnson and Aguirre will discuss the process of creating the interactive map featured in the Folded Map exhibition.
About LUMA
Opened in 2005, the Loyola University Museum of Art is dedicated to exploring, promoting, and understanding art and artistic expression that illuminates the enduring spiritual questions of all cultures and societies. As a museum with an interest in education and educational programming, LUMA reflects the University’s Jesuit mission and is dedicated to helping people of all creeds explore the roots of their faith and spiritual quests. Located at Loyola University Chicago’s Water Tower Campus, the museum occupies the first three floors of the University’s historic Lewis Towers on Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue. For more information, visit the museum’s website at LUC.edu/luma.
Art illuminating the spirit!
-LUMA-
