Theaster Gates to Unveil Monumental Tribute to Black Beauty at the Obama Presidential Center
When the Obama Presidential Center opens its doors on Chicago’s South Side this spring, art will stand at the heart of its vision. Spanning nearly 20 acres, the cultural and civic campus will feature large-scale installations by some of the most influential living American artists, each work helping to define the Center as a space for reflection, dialogue, and collective memory.
Among the latest commissions announced is a powerful new installation by renowned Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates, who will create a monumental portrait of Black life drawn from historic photographic archives. The work serves as both a sweeping celebration of Black culture and a deeply intentional ode to Black women.
Gates’ installation will take the form of a two-part frieze composed of vintage editorial images from Ebony and Jet magazines, two publications that shaped Black visual culture in the decades following World War II. Printed on aluminum alloy and monumental in scale, the frieze will be installed inside the Center’s Forum Building, an atrium designed to host public gatherings and civic events.
The space itself holds deep symbolic weight. The Forum’s atrium is named after Hadiya Pendleton, the teenage majorette who performed at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration before being killed by gun violence just days later in 2013. The installation will also be visible from Stony Island Avenue, a historic South Side corridor and the location of Gates’ Stony Island Arts Bank, part of his Rebuild Foundation.
For nearly a decade, Gates has served as a steward of the Johnson Publishing Company archives, preserving the legacy of the Black-owned media powerhouse behind Ebony and Jet. Since the company sold its assets in 2016, Gates has repeatedly returned to the archive in his artistic practice, most recently through exhibitions at the Smart Museum of Art and Gray Chicago gallery.
Read also Julie Mehretu Champions a New Era of African Creativity Through Continent-Wide Workshops
“These publications amplified the dignity and the life of Black folk,” Gates said, reflecting on the archive’s significance. “People were taking photos not to make money, but to keep culture alive and tell the story of culture.”
For the Obama Presidential Center, Gates selected approximately 20 archival images, alongside portraits by Howard Simmons, a pioneering photographer whose work appeared in Ebony, Jet, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Gates met Simmons roughly three years ago and credits his work as central to the visual storytelling of Black American life.
Describing the installation as “something old and something new,” Gates explained that the work recontextualizes historic images through scale, material, and placement. “These images are not just historic artifacts,” he said. “They are the foundational images of Black life.” Virginia Shore, curator of art commissions at the Obama Presidential Center, noted that Gates’ use of the archives underscores “the power and possibility of Black modernity, particularly in Chicago.” Shore added that former President Obama has been closely involved in selecting the artists and shaping the dialogue around each commission.
Gates joins an esteemed roster of artists contributing to the Center, including Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, Julie Mehretu, Marie Watt, Nekisha Durrett, and Aliza Nisenbaum. Mehretu, for instance, is creating an 83-foot-tall stained-glass window composed of 35 painted panels, her first work in glass, while Cave and Watt will collaborate on a multimedia textile and sound installation in the museum lobby.
According to Louise Bernard, director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum, art plays a central role in the institution’s mission. “Art is such a great connector,” Bernard said. “It convenes people, engages them to think in new ways, and helps us imagine possibilities. We are building a presidential center unlike any other, the entire site is activated by art.”
Read also Willie Chembez Predicts a Creative Renaissance: Africa’s Film Industry Is Waking Up”
Collectively, the commissioned works reflect the Center’s broader message: that democracy is not static, but an ongoing process shaped by struggle, creativity, and participation. “Progress is never linear,” Bernard added. “We ask visitors to see themselves as changemakers.”
For Gates, whose practice spans sculpture, performance, urban revitalization, and archival preservation, the commission represents a continuation of his role as a cultural historian. Beyond the Johnson Publishing archives, Gates has preserved collections ranging from architectural lantern slides to the vinyl records of late house music pioneer Frankie Knuckles, as well as thousands of objects of racist memorabilia removed from circulation. “Being active in archives is a way of being an informal historian,” Gates said. “We need to keep certain truths alive so they don’t get buried under falsehoods.”
Ultimately, his work at the Obama Presidential Center stands as a reminder, and a declaration. “Black people have been doing great things for a long time,” Gates said. “How we understand American progress has everything to do with the contributions of all people, but especially the contributions of Black and brown people.”
