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FUTURE VOYAGERS EXHIBIT CELEBRATES YOUTH, ADVENTURE, AND REPRESENTATION
On August 8, the Future Voyagers exhibit opened at the Epiphany Art Center to a full house, celebrating a two-year collaboration between Chicago Voyagers, High Dive, and a talented roster of multidisciplinary artists. The show spotlights Chicago youth engaged in outdoor exploration — from mountain biking to wilderness navigation — and reimagines them as heroic figures in vibrant, museum-worthy portraits.
Saturday programming featured a panel with Rachel Greman of High Dive, Sam Kirk, founder of Chicago Voyagers and artists Dwight White II, and Edo (Eddie Santana White). White, the lead curator, described the project as “painting youth in settings they’re already navigating, but also allowing them to see themselves as heroes — strong, powerful, and capable.” Edo emphasized the importance of creating art that meets youth where they are: colorful, accessible, yet layered with meaning for all audiences.
Chicago Voyagers founder Kirk shared the nonprofit’s origin story — a modest trailer, 22 bikes, and $1,600 — and how it has grown into a program that gives urban youth access to nature, leadership opportunities, and new experiences beyond their neighborhoods. “When young people see themselves in these roles, it expands their sense of what’s possible,” he noted.
The artwork challenges the traditional “white male explorer” imagery still dominant in many museum galleries. Instead, Future Voyagers centers youth of color in narratives of adventure, discovery, and leadership. As Greman explained, “This has been a journey of love — dozens of people poured their talent and passion into bringing this vision to life.”
Through bold storytelling and vivid imagery, the exhibit not only celebrates the outdoors but also affirms the power of representation. For the young people depicted, and those who come to see it, Future Voyagers is a reminder: you belong in the picture. The exhibit is on display at Epiphany Art Center until September.
PIERRE LE RICHE’S MY BODY IS NOT YOUR TEMPLE — OPENS IN BERLIN SEPTEMBER 11
Ronewa Art Projects will present My Body Is Not Your Temple, the second solo exhibition at the gallery by South African artist Pierre le Riche. Opening September 11, the exhibition unveils a compelling new series of wall textiles that extend the artist’s ongoing exploration of queer identity, belonging, visibility, and vulnerability.
Building on the conceptual framework of his 2024 solo show In Four Places At Once, le Riche deepens his investigation into the body as both a site of personal identity and a space of contradiction. Central to his practice are themes of gender and sexuality, examined through a visual language that is simultaneously bold, intimate, and at times disquieting. His work disrupts conventional views of masculinity and queer existence, inviting viewers to confront layered social narratives.
The exhibition features new tapestries characterized by vivid color palettes, distorted spatial dimensions, and faceless, contorted figures. These forms intersect and overlap, creating dynamic compositions where bodies fragment and reassemble through shifting planes of color and line. Le Riche employs what he describes as a “queered camouflage,” masking and revealing his subjects in equal measure.
His figures, rendered in a simplified and almost cartoon-like style, become shapeshifters — moving fluidly between the personal and the public, between vulnerability and defiance. Through this series, le Riche continues to expand a dialogue on how queer bodies are perceived, navigated, and transformed within contemporary culture.
Opening September 11, 2025
Exhibition: September 12 — November 1, 2025
MECCA IN MEMORY: PUBLIC PREMIERE HONORED THE LEGACY OF MECCA FLATS
Mecca in Memory: Public Premiere, a multimedia ceremony debuting the newest Floating Monument for Mecca was held at Illinois Tech College of Architecture’s Crown Hall and Siegel Field on Saturday. Once a vibrant center of Black life in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, Mecca Flats was erased from the city’s landscape. Mecca in Memory reclaimed the space through an afternoon of performance, conversation, and shared ritual.
INFLATE for Mecca, a symbolic activation was the opening of the show, followed by a live musical procession led by Corey Wilkes. Drawing on the tradition of blues processionals, the performance honored memory, resilience, and community, transforming the historic site into a living space of remembrance.
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