Art, Activation, and Reflection: Black Wall Street Journey
Join us for a pop-up marketplace and in-gallery conversation about the Black economy.
During this unique event where art, activation, and reflection intersect, several small Black-owned businesses will set up shop in the Smart Museum of Art’s lobby, including Dinah Clottey’s T’kor Couture.
After shopping, join artist Rick Lowe (beaming in virtually) and University of Chicago researchers Ashley Truehart and Jennifer Etienne for a behind-the-scenes discussion about Black Wall Street Journey, an ongoing, city-wide project that pays tribute to the building of Black wealth in Chicago and beyond. From within the Black Wall Street Journey installation in Toward Common Cause, the team will share what they have learned about the Black economy and how the initiative will continue to impact art, activism, and policy beyond the end of the exhibition.
Register for the event
FREE. Reservations are strongly encouraged, as space is limited.
Program video
About the participants
Dinah Clottey is a 4th year in the college at the University of Chicago majoring in Sociology and the CEO of T’kor Couture. T’kor Couture is a Black-owned luxury and sustainable fashion brand that specializes in handmade crochet clothing and accessories.
Jennifer Etienne is a Sociology PhD student and Committee on Education Fellow at University of Chicago. Over the past 7 years, she has committed to public and academic research aimed at examining racial formation through school integration, building a research agenda focused on race, racism, and education.
Rick Lowe is one of 29 MacArthur Fellows participating in Toward Common Cause. Lowe has initiated arts-driven redevelopment projects in several U.S. cities, including Project Row Houses in Houston, translation: Vicory Medow in Dallas, and Victoria Square Project in Athens Greece. He is a 2018–2021 Neubauer Collegium Visiting Fellow at the University of Chicago and Professor of Art at University of Houston.
Ashley Truehart is a PhD student in Cinema and Media Studies at University of Chicago. Her work explores how intersecting identities that fall under the umbrella of Blackness are represented in the media.
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In his first Chicago-based “social sculpture,” Rick Lowe is developing Black Wall Street Journey. The multifaceted city-wide project pays tribute to the building of Black wealth, using public art to tell the stories from the journeys of Black communities in Chicago and beyond. Black Wall Street Journey builds on the connection between Chicago and Tulsa, home…
I first began to explore art in a social context after being challenged by a high school student who looked at my earlier political work and said it wasn’t what people needed. People needed solutions. And he said, if you are an artist and you are creative, why can’t you create a solution? That was the turning point that got me thinking about how to produce work that was not only symbolic and poetic but also had a practical application.