Dark Matter, is …an offering to those forces in the universe that would have us prevail and emerge out of the shadows of love during these times of great chaos, uncertainty, upheaval, darkness and ignorance.
– Folayemi Wilson, from exhibition catalogue for Dark Matter: Celestial Objects as Messengers of Love in These Troubled Times
Manipulated Video: An Explosion on the Sun, 2016, courtesy NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
What’s up
Public Art in Chicago
Promise (for tomorrow from the past looking to the future), 2024, vitreous glass mosaic, 2024
The site of my mural for a new train station in Chicago’s Near Westside neighborhood opened just two weeks before the historic Democratic National Convention in October 2024, that took place a few blocks away at the United Center. At the official opening Mayor Brandon Johnson called this beautiful world-class design by the architecture firm Perkins & Will, “transformative” and “visually stunning. We take another step in our city’s journey to reverse the historic disinvestment of this community,” Johnson added. “Accessible, reliable, affordable public transit is how we connect people on the Near West Side to opportunities beyond their neighborhoods.” My work is concerned with equity, the uplift of marginalized communities, and systems of repair that work towards ensuring all communities have opportunities to thrive. The last time this area had an “L” stop was in 1948.
The mural includes almost one million 1/4” ceramic tiles. Along with archival photographs I used from the Chicago History Museum and the symbolic image of the prairie, the composition references the pioneering work of Florence Kelly, who went door-to-door during a hot summer in 1892 to collect demographic data on social and working conditions in the area that led to establishing sociology as a discipline, introduced infographics, and instigated stricter working conditions in sweatshops and policies around child labor. Although it is hard to say how others may interpret the mural, in my mind it is asking: What is over the horizon of the Midwestern prairie? And, what new Near West Side might this group of young people be walking towards? What future Chicago might the Greenline take them to?
Architect: Perkins&Will
Photographer: James Steinkamp
Museum Acquisition | NMAAHC
Typochair, 2004
I don’t think I suffer from imposter syndrome, but at times I still feel like a beginner, and not sure if that is the same thing. I could not be more thrilled to have work acquired by the National Museum of African American Arts & Culture (NMAAAC) in Washington, D.C. Typochair , 2004, a prototype I developed in graduate school at RISD, bridges the graphic design profession I came from prior to my graduate studies, and the new vocation I was studying in furniture design. Can you find all the elements that spell the word “chair.” Trained to always consider the materiality and entire lifecycle of an object, the aluminum components come apart so it can easily be shipped as a flat pack.
New In My Library
Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects
Organized by Chris Vargas
Where is Africa? Vol. 1
Emmanuel Admassu
Anita N, Bateman
An Indigenous Present
Organized by Jeffrey Gibson
Designing the Domestic Posthuman
Book by Colbey Emmerson Reid and Dennis M. Weiss