I love caves. I often think about how they are similar to our throats. Dark, wet, and resonant passages. Today, I visited the Paradise Lost Caves today in Kiambu and I was in awe by their ancientness and also terrified by their darkness. Caves in the Great Rift Vallery are incredibly rich in telling us about prehistoric human life and I’m so geeked to host the Nairobi-based architecture studio @cave_bureau this Thursday for a lecture on their practice, which has proposed solutions to geothermal energy extraction affecting the Masaai people and examined how caves (forests and valleys) have been intergral to colonial resistance in Kenya. A program supported by the @helenfrankenthalerfoundation & @chicagodcase

2025 was the vortex of my life so far. I considered leaving Chicago, but certain forces said...not yet. It wasn't until the summer that I came to grasp why. Not that I didn't know the immense significance of this city in my life, but after fracturing my humerus a day after the summer solstice, I came to a greater understanding of how loved and cared for I am here by many friends and family, pictured here, and also, not pictured here. I produced some exhibitions and commissions—like Maria Gaspar's & Thaddeus Tukes' "We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat (After Angela Davis)" & agustine zegers’s “A toxin threatens, but it also beckons”—that I'm quite proud of, a feeling that I often shy away from. Here's the evidence, the clarity, and all the beauty (and pain) uncovered during my Saturn return. Some pictured works: Theaster Gates "The Double Wide"; Raven Chacon's "Aviary"; Eero Saarinen's MIT Chapel; Betyee Saar with a powerful, late 19th century Bamum Robe from Cameroon; excerpts from Clarice Lispector's "The Hour of the Star" (I aspire for this restrained voice in writing), Annie Ernaux's "A Girl's Story," & Édouard Glissant's "Caribbean Discourse"; Maria Gaspar with Thaddeus Tukes prepping for "We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat (After Angela Davis)"; and Etran de L'aïr at the Guggenheim for Grace Wales Bonner’s Togetherness!

Me, devouring some sheep, in a prehistoric 4,000 year old cave where the MauMau sought refuge during the struggle for independence, on top of the Great Rift Valley’s escarpment, a view of the Great Rift Valley from Mt. Longonot with Lake Naivasha in the distance, solitude, my sister, my cousin, a rare siwa made from ivory (always wondered what it sounds like when blown), sun drying coffee beans, my Nairobi.

We are thrilled to announce 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒕, an exhibition by Mandela Hudson, curated by Denny Mwaura. Join us for the opening reception on Friday 1/17, 6-9PM ⭐️ For his first solo exhibition, Chicago-born artist Mandela Hudson presents a collection of photographs that challenge the notion of sole authorship in storytelling. These works are part of a larger monograph tracing his connections between Chicago and Detroit, emphasizing the profound influences of family, design, history, Chicago’s social and architectural landscapes, and the unacknowledged creative vision found within inherited vernacular photography. Rather than asserting himself as the sole creator of these images, Mandela focuses on the emotions, ideas, and social ties they distinctly evoke. The exhibition’s title, 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒂𝒔𝒕, draws from theological and Nativity themes, exploring concepts of light overcoming darkness, the beauty of simplicity, and the connection between otherworldly dimensions and earthly existence. Whether referencing spiritual beliefs, landscapes, personal history, or his practice in Judo, Mandela’s work reflects a layered introspective dialogue within a growing body of work. Opening Friday 1/17, 6-9PM On view through March 1st, 2025 @mandeluh @white.egrets

This Friday, May 10, 5-7 p.m. at @gallery400 is the opening of 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝑀𝒶𝓈𝓀 𝑜𝒻 𝒫𝓇𝑜𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓉𝓎, an exhibition I’ve organized that considers the role inheritance has across multiple dimensions of our lives. The show is a salient observation of which legacies we choose to acquire, hold on to, or reject across culture and personal life. It’s a reflection of our kinships, how we come into possession of material and intangible things, their lasting impressions on us, and how political powers impinge on our self-determination. This topic has been on my mind for the past two years, and I’m eternally grateful for three people: cameron clayborn (@cameroncclayborn ), Eli Greene (@_blueingreen ), and Kat Simóne Reynolds, who propelled me to pursue this topic that strikes a chord within so many of us. The show features Sonya Clark, cameron clayborn, Eli Greene, S*an D. Henry-Smith, Caroline Kent and Nate Young, Bouchra Khalili, Katherine Simóne Reynolds, Gabrielle Octavia Rucker, and Carmen Winant. Images: cameron clayborn, homegrown #5, 2022. Courtesy the artist and Simone Subal Gallery, New York. Photo by Olympia Shannon. Bouchra Khalili, The Speeches Series—Chapter 1: Mother Tongue, 2012. Courtesy the artist and mor charpentier.

things, places, and people. real, staged, and candid

How do u get to Detroit?

First time at the black* rodeo show 🏇🏾

TODAY! 5-8PM at @gallery400 • 400 S. Peoria St. Opening reception of two profound shows, "Chronicle of a Fall: Nadav Assor & Tirtza Even" and "A Species of Theft," which I curated! "Chronicle of a Fall" is an immersive, feature-length video installation depicting the fragmented, transient experience of a group of immigrants in the US. It begins with a simple question, "What is home to you?" and their responses on concepts of home and happiness are woven by a cinema verité style—reminiscent of Jean Rouch's 1961 film, Chronicle of a Summer—and emerging technologies such as parallel body-worn cameras, volumetric capture, and projection mapping. The group video exhibition A Species of Theft centers on dispossession—the loss of land and personhood—and is informed by complex historical understandings of displacement, immigration, labor, and alienation between North America, Britain, and Kurdistan. It explores contested relationships to land and how property ownership is generated. The artists featured include Marwa Arsanios, Carolina Caycedo, Tomashi Jackson, and Skawennati. Images: 1. Skawennati, Becoming the Peacemaker (Tekanawí:ta). Machinimagraph from the Peacemaker Returns, 2017. Courtesy the artist. 2. Nadav Assor and Tirtza Even, Chronicle of a Fall, 2021. Courtesy the artists. 3. Marwa Arsanios, Who Is Afraid of Ideology? Part 1, 2017. Courtesy the artist and mor charpentier.

last week with @alteroncegumby @bernardlumpkin and Wilmer Wilson IV at the reception of Young, Gifted and Black at @luartgalleries

🪡🧵Over the fall, I was introduced to and came to deeply admire @c.chronicles works at two shows here in Chicago. I'm super excited to be in a conversation with them about their sculptural and embroidery works this Wednesday. All on the occasion of @younggiftedblackart at @luartgalleries Registration link in bio 🕸

Proud to announce that my MA thesis chapter "To See Is to Be Seen" was awarded the 2021 Schiff Foundation Fellowship for Critical Architectural Writing by the Dept. of Architecture and Design at the @artinstitutechi 🍾🥂 Photo by @romariodefour