Catalyst

Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago, the first exhibition to open in Intuit’s newly-renovated museum, is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.

It is the first major exhibition to focus on the importance of immigration and migration in the genre of self-taught art. The exhibition underscores the creative contributions of migrants and immigrants, broadening the scope to include artists deserving of greater attention, while posing questions about access to the art world and how art comes to be defined and valued. Considering artists in the context of their migration experience, cultural backgrounds and communities invites new insights into their work. Chicago, a city with a significant and ongoing history of immigration and migration, is fertile ground for investigating the rich array of academic and nonacademic influences—cultural, communal and familial—that enrich artistic production. The exhibition aims to be inclusive of the experiences of immigrants and migrants while acknowledging social and legal differences. 

Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago explores catalysts for leaving home, for coming to Chicago and for pursuing an art practice. The range of personal and political subject matter and artistic styles reflects artists processing distinct cultural traditions, memories and experiences of living far from one’s homeland. Themes in the artworks on display range from belonging and longing for homeland, to labor and individual expression, to bearing witness to history, to assimilation.

The narrative centers on the rise of self-taught art in Chicago during the second half of the 20th century, opportunities for artists leading up to this time, and the continued importance of im/migration and self-taught art to Chicago today.