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A Guide to 10 Must-See Exhibitions in Chicago This Summer

A Guide to 10 Must-See Exhibitions in Chicago This Summer


The article provided offers an insightful overview of Chicago’s current artistic endeavors, focusing on how art and activism are intertwined within the city’s cultural landscape. With a hotter-than-usual summer approaching, Chicagoans find solace and identity in the city’s art institutions that capture its historical and cultural roots. Several exhibitions are highlighted, each offering unique perspectives on social issues, identity, and heritage.

1. **Chicago’s Protest Art**: The Chicago History Museum showcases the vibrancy of past social movements, bringing to life protest media from the 1960s and 70s. These artifacts connect visitors directly to the emotions and motivations of activists.

2. **Raqib Shaw’s Paradise Lost**: The Art Institute of Chicago hosts Shaw’s mesmerizing paintings, combining personal history with rich storytelling. The pieces invite contemplation on shared and personal histories.

3. **The First Homosexuals**: Wrightwood 659 explores the origins of homosexual identity through an extensive collection of art, providing a powerful affirmation of queerness throughout history.

4. **Huguette Caland’s Bribes de corps**: The Arts Club of Chicago presents Caland’s sensual and introspective works that invite viewers to reconsider the relationship between their own bodies and their surroundings.

5. **Christina Fernandez’s Multiple Exposures**: DePaul Art Museum offers a retrospective on Fernandez’s photography, which keenly observes labor and cultural identity, deeply rooted in her Chicana experience.

6. **Paño Arte at the National Museum of Mexican Art**: This exhibition highlights intricate artworks created by incarcerated individuals, emphasizing creativity as resistance and cultural expression.

7. **Thus masked, the world has a language**: Mariane Ibrahim Gallery uses masks and masquerade to explore African diasporic art, merging past and present.

8. **City in a Garden**: The MCA Chicago reflects on the history and activism of Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community, intertwined with the city’s urban landscape and political history.

9. **Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art**: Intuit Art Museum focuses on the stories of immigrants in Chicago, expressing cultural narratives through self-taught art.

10. **The South Side Home Movie Project**: The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts celebrates home movies as a medium for preserving family histories and community memories.

These exhibitions not only showcase the diverse narratives within Chicago but also support a vision of change and cultural preservation amid the city’s pressing challenges.