Lubeznik Center for the Arts (LCA) will host an opening reception for three new art exhibitions, Vivian Maier: In Color, Under the Same Sun and to render the infinite, on Friday, July 7 from 5 to 8 p.m.
Vivian Maier: In Color
Centered on the Chicago History Museum’s new Vivian Maier collection, Vivian Maier: In Color features 50 color prints spanning the late 1950s through the 1970s.
Maier was more than a nanny photographer. She toed the line between a French immigrant and a local, a suburban nanny and a city dweller and a subject and an object who was only posthumously celebrated with international acclaim.
A discerning amateur photographer, Maier took thousands of pictures throughout her life, refining her craft through her explorations around Chicago, her home base from 1956 on. She gained in-depth perspective of the diverse city and its people. She took everyday moments and transformed them into something extraordinary. Maier’s photographs encourage viewers to look beyond the ordinary. She approached her subjects with an unwavering confidence that portrayed them in a similar light, revealing their parallels, intersections and tensions.
Maier died in 2009 before her life’s work was shared with the world. She left behind hundreds of prints, 100,000 negatives and about a thousand rolls of undeveloped film, which were discovered when a collector purchased the contents of her storage lockers. There is no proof she ever made a concerted effort to show her work―gifting us the mystery of an elusive woman behind the camera.
Under the Same Sun
While Maier documented the street, Natasha Moustache documents the domestic. Moustache is a contemporary, Chicago-based photographic installation artist whose work reflects their experience as a first-generation, Seychellois-American and explores Black Diasporic relations within colonized spaces. In Under the Same Sun, Moustache visualizes the interconnectedness and transnationality of the Black Diaspora through a familial album of portraiture, domestic interiors and cherished possessions of three women. Moustache’s lens is intimate and compassionate. In familiarizing these three women across socio-economics, generations and geographies, Moustache highlights the unmistakable signifiers of Black Diasporic life. Success is defined uniquely by each woman, yet the challenges and resiliency required of living in spaces that were not meant for women of color connect them.
to render the infinite
Visual artist zakkiyyah najeebah dumas o’neal and composer Ayana Contreras collaborated on a remarkable film, to render the infinite, commissioned by the Chicago Humanities Festival. o’neal’s film is mined from the Chicago Film Archives along with her own footage, and she uses video assemblage to detail a view of Chicago. The film begins with footage of Lake Michigan and of Chicago author, Lorraine Hansberry. Hansberry is most known for being the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway, A Raisin in the Sun. Although Hansberry is most known for this work, o'neal weaves in imagery and gestures that allude to Hansberry's lesbian identity, mirroring o’neals own identity as it relates to the ways Black women and queer people are deeply embedded within the social landscape of Chicago.
All are welcome to enjoy the exhibitions, complimentary light refreshments and a cash bar. As always, admission is free.