Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Chicago artist heals through #InHonor portraits
by Gretchen Rachel Hammond
2017-03-08

This article shared 503 times since Wed Mar 8, 2017
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


While Black History Month played host to a wide array of events and contributions from historical and cultural academia and activists, it is the work of the artist which can have the most profound impact in both celebrating and lifting up Black lives while inspiring the kind of understanding and healing needed to bridge the chasms that have formed in an increasingly divided America.

One such individual is photo-based mixed media artist and activist Ervin A. Johnson.

The 2016 Dammeyer Fellow and Artist in Residence of The Diane Dammeyer Fellowship in Photographic Arts and Social Issues hosted by Columbia College and Heartland Alliance has recently received national acclaim for his work #InHonor.

This series of astounding and exquisitely detailed portraits of Black faces illuminate the brick walls, underpass columns and once barren spaces in communities such as Englewood on Chicago's South Side and are designed not only to honor Blackness but as a captivating tribute to lives lost through systemic racism and police brutality.

The 29-year-old Johnson, who was born and raised in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, told Windy City Times that art initially trickled in and out of his life.

"In college, I focused on writing because that's what I excelled at in High School and I thought that was where my future was," he said. "But, in my senior year, I picked up a camera and it just felt right. I was good at the rest of my artistic endeavors but I didn't feel like I was contributing to them."

Yet it is Johnson's phenomenal talent as an artist and his equally enduring passion as an activist that has also made an indelible contribution to the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Collectively, Black people have always been aware of what's happening," he said. "I've always been aware of what it means to exist in America as a Black, gay man. I think the Black Lives Matter movement was an awakening for the rest of the country."

Johnson added that his art has not only "tried to renegotiate" his identity but "on a greater scale, how the Black body is perceived."

The eyes staring back from the faces of #InHonor inspire those questions in as much as they challenge those who retain their gaze to look deeper.

The work has owes its genesis both to Johnson's fascination with portraiture and, like the Black Lives Matter movement, the 2013 murderous and judicial injustice visited upon Black teenager Trayvon Martin.

"I was finishing up my thesis work in Atlanta," Johnson said. "I would come back to Chicago every summer and I would remember my mother coming into my bedroom during the final days of the Trayvon Martin trial and she just stood at the doorway and started crying. I knew why she was crying. It was because she was afraid for my future. The results of that trial moved me out of my complacency."

Johnson began with a January 2015 social media blast inviting friends to sit for the portraits and to engage in conversation.

"It grew from there," Johnson said. "I only require that participants are African American. Other than that, there are no limits as to who can take part. I photograph the person, print out a large-scale image of them and then I go in renegotiate the ink on the page by removing and adding paint ( photo-based mixed media ). I add a third layer of imagery on top of that."

"I interact with the canvas in a very physical way," Johnson added. "Similar to a Jackson Pollock painting. The entire point with all of my work is that the Black body is very resilient and, despite what happens to it, the Black body still finds a way to press forward."

Despite interacting with a continually growing number of people, Johnson admitted that his Black, gay identity still leaves him with a sense of isolation.

"I can't say that I've come up with a solution for it but I can say that I have come across my own power in figuring out who I am in my work," he said. "I'm more ready for the world."

That readiness involves exhibitions in cities including Atlanta, Chicago and Portland, Oregon.

These exhibitions are not merely showcases but demonstrations of the innate healing power of the artist.

"Art can serve as the vessel for conversations that we don't necessarily want to have about where we are," Johnson said. "Because of our history, the history of the Black body and the aggression towards it, we are less likely to have those conversations but they are absolutely necessary in processing our trauma. I help sort out those feelings and shed a light on those people who don't have the capability to do so themselves. I am optimistic for the future but, with the current administration, I can't say I'm not afraid of where we're headed."


This article shared 503 times since Wed Mar 8, 2017
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

City Lit Executive Artistic Director Brian Pastor talks theater, comics, queerness 2024-03-26
- City Lit Theater has announced its programming for the 2024-25 season—which will be the company's 44th. It will also be the first season to be programmed under the leadership of Brian Pastor (they/them), who will assume ...


Gay News

Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance 2024-03-18
- Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lady Gaga, 'P-Valley,' Wendy Williams, Luke Evans, 'Queer Eye,' 'Transition' 2024-03-15
- Lady Gaga came to the defense of Dylan Mulvaney after a post with the trans influencer/activist for International Women's Day received hateful responses, People Magazine noted. On Instagram, Gaga stated, "It's appalling to me that a ...


Gay News

Chicago History Museum announces "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s - 70s exhibition 2024-03-14
--From a press release - CHICAGO (March 14, 2024) — The Chicago History Museum is thrilled to announce its upcoming exhibition, "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s—70s." Set to open on Saturday, May 18, 2024, this exhibition is ...


Gay News

Center on Halsted celebrates Dreams of Drag 2024-03-11
- On March 9, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., in partnership with the Ralla Klepak Foundation, presented the Dreams of Drag Spring Cohort Class of 2024. The event featured performances from a class of new ...


Gay News

Center on Halsted hosts 6th Annual Intergenerational Talent Show 2024-03-03
- On the evening of Feb. 29, Center on Halsted held its 6th Annual Intergenerational Talent Show in front of a packed audience at the Hoover-Leppen Theater. The event brought together participants of the Center's youth and senior ...


Gay News

TAWANI Foundation commits $25K to StartOut, supporting LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship 2024-02-08
--From a press release - CHICAGO — February 8, 2024 — The TAWANI Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that provides support in the areas of arts and culture, historical preservation, health and wellness, LGBTQ+ and human rights ...


Gay News

Center on Halsted opens two new art exhibitions 2024-02-07
- On Feb. 2, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., hosted its latest gallery opening, presenting two solo exhibitions exploring the role of the artist and their relationships with their environments, albeit using vastly different styles. ...


Gay News

ART Champaign display looks at the Midwest Black lesbian experience 2024-02-03
- In Illinois, archival photos are the centerpiece of a new display at the Krannert Art Museum focusing on the Black lesbian experience in the Midwest, IPM reported. The new solo exhibition by St. Louis-based artist Jen ...


Gay News

ART Queer photographer James Hosking focuses the lens on his own work 2023-12-18
- James Hosking—a Chicago-based LGBTQ+ artist who specializes in photography and collage—is one of 17 people selected to be part of "Once: 2023 Emerging Artists Exhibit" at the Cleve Carney Museum on the College of DuPage campus ...


Gay News

GLAAD marks World AIDS Day with launch of global resource hub, new HIV report 2023-12-01
--From a press release - New York, New York — Friday, Dec. 1 — GLAAD marked World AIDS Day this year by sharing the results of its fourth annual State of HIV Stigma Report, a national survey among U.S. adults measuring ...


Gay News

Wrightwood 659 to present 'Daniel Goldstein: The Marks We Leave Behind' on World AIDS Day 2023-11-29
- (CHICAGO, Nov. 29, 2023) —Alphawood Exhibitions will present Daniel Goldstein: The Marks We Leave Behind, an exhibition of works from the San Francisco-based artist & HIV/AIDS activist's iconic "Icarian Series," ...


Gay News

'Jersey Boys' stars reunite as Midtown Men on Dec. 2 in Glen Ellyn 2023-11-14
- The original stars of the Broadway hit Jersey Boys—Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard and J. Robert Spencer—will reunite as Midtown Men on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7:30 p.m. at McAninch Arts Center's Belushi Performance Hall ...


Gay News

Black Excellence Awards winners named, inaugural Chicago Black Arts Hall of Fame inductees honored 2023-11-08
--From a press release - CHICAGO (Nov. 7, 2023)—The nonprofit Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago is proud to announce the winners of its 23rd Annual Black Excellence Awards, honored last night in a festive celebration at Black Ensemble Theater. ...


Gay News

PASSAGES Avid ceramicist Don Heggemann remembered for 'dedicated,' lively presence 2023-11-03
- Ceramics instructor Dubhe Carreño first met Don Heggemann when he took her Saturday general ceramics class at Northeastern Illinois University in 2010. He took every one of her classes after that. Heggemann eventually joined the staff ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.