This writer recently stopped by an exhibit on the Southside of Chicago called Everyday Rituals. Walking into the building, I noted that it was filled with a feeling of freedom and reverence. The marriage of photographs of Chicago by Tonika Lewis Johnson and the art of Adrienne Powers curated by Tracy Hall culminates into an essence of Black culture.
Johnson shared her feelings about the exhibit.
“The curator, Tracy Hall, invited me to be part of it. She paired me with Adrienne Powers to see if we can come up with an extension of what everyday ritual is. It’s connecting African culture to Urban African tradition in Chicago. I represented the secular and urban tradition. Adrienne’s paintings represent the African spiritual tradition. The piece where there is a picture of a woman sitting in a church pew with an African goddess above it is my favorite collaboration; it symbolizes the joint exhibition and how we really had a lot of chemistry without even knowing it,” she said.
The exhibit is showing in Rootwork Gallery, 645 W. 18th St., Chicago, and runs until March 19, 2017.
Take a look at a few pictures from the opening of the exhibit below.
