Arts + Public Life and the CENTER for the STUDY OF RACE, POLITICS, AND CULTURE ANNOUNCE THE 2023 ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE: Jess Atieno, Shani Crowe and Gloria “Gloe” Talamantes
Jess Atieno maintains a practice informed by inquiries on place, home and dispossession through the lens of the post-colonial. Atieno sees herself as carrying inscriptions of a colonial past and studying as an adult in the US made her increasingly unable to situate herself in a static reality of belonging. With this inspiration, she time travels into history through its material remains: historical photographs, maps and documents, employing them in prints, installation and tapestry. She turns to the idea of place as the transformative site of hybridity that offers alternative strategies for and models of representation within the post-colonial. Atieno holds an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is an alum of Asiko Art School. Her work has been shown in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola, Austria, Germany, Ivory Coast and the United States. Atieno is also the founder of the Nairobi Print Project.
The Artists-In-Residence (AIRs) Program has supported over 36 individual artists whose work examines themes relevant to South Side communities and engages issues of race and ethnicity. The program has a strong record of helping launch careers, with alumni going on to exhibit works at Studio Museum in Harlem, the Venice Biennale, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, among other venues. The ten-month paid residency program provides space, materials, and stipends. During this program, artists have access to rehearsal, performance, and exhibition spaces on the Arts Block in Washington Park including the Arts Incubator and Green Line Performing Arts Center, and access to the academic and research resources of the University of Chicago.
