There is Black Housing in the Future: Equitable Public Housing as Memorial

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The Museum’s Mies van der Rohe McCormick House will feature Pittsburgh-based interdisciplinary artist and cultural producer Alisha Wormsley and conceptual artist Ayanah Moor, professor of print-media at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wormsley and Moor will create an installation in the McCormick House as a means of activism and education to support mothers fighting for the future of Black housing. The exhibition references national, community, and grassroots organizations—like Moms 4 Housing—that advocate for affordable, dignified housing for all. There is Black Housing in the Future is inspired by Afro-Futurist artists and writers who affirm the visibility and well-being of Black communities across notions of space and time. An artist activity video for youth will complement Wormsley and Moor’s artwork. Using everyday household items, the artists will guide viewers in the production of message-based posters, yard signs, and even kites to support communities' voices.

This installation is in conjunction with and inspired by, the museum’s upcoming March 2021 exhibit In Focus: The Chicago Freedom Movement and the Fight for Fair Housing.

Alisha B. Wormsley runs a new arts residency project in Pittsburgh, PA, for Black Mothers called Sibyl’s Shrine. She is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural producer. Her work is about collective memory and the synchronicity of time, specifically through the stories of women of color. Wormsley’s work has been honored and supported by a number of awards and grants. Wormsley has an MFA in Film and Video from Bard College and was awarded the Postdoctoral Research fellowship in art at Carnegie Mellon University.

Ayanah Moor is a conceptual artist whose work explores blackness, gender, desire, and language. She works across various media to create paintings, prints, drawings, and performances. Ayanah Moor earned a BFA at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and MFA at Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia. She is a tenured Associate Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

This exhibition is part of the Shaping the Past program in partnership with the Goethe-Institut, Monument Lab, and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education).

Supported by the Goethe-Institut and Wunderbar Together.

The artists would like to thank these individuals and organizations for their assistance:

Chicago area partners: Marion Nzinga Stamps, A Long Walk Home, Faye Porter, Gloria Davis, McKensie Mack, Tamar, Manasseh, Page May, Mary Scott Boria, Destiny Harris, Aislinn Pulley, Mariame Kaba, Kristiana Colón, Charlene Carruthers, Rachel Williams, Janaé Bonsu, and Veronica Morris-Moore

National partners: Ronnell Guy (Pittsburgh), BQF (Philadelphia), Moms4Housing (Oakland), Protest organizers in Detroit, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Seattle, and New York.