ARTS & CULTURE

REVIEWS R Memory as devotion

Myra Greene’s “Kept” lays bare the mechanisms of visibility.

Myra Greene’s “Kept,” the Atlanta artist’s third solo exhibition at Patron, interrogates notions of archive and intervention with de and delicate hands. The act of care drives Greene’s mediation as the exhibition is composed from a collection of her grandmother’s personal photos. Greene selected and reprinted specific images as ambrotypes in order to challenge assumptions of Black interiority and kinship; these are images of the everyday, of people not commonly seen in dominant photographic narratives. In addition to the importance of Greene’s positionality, her process and material are chosen with precision. She first created digital negatives of each image and then chemically printed the negatives onto white and cream sheets of glass. Through these processes Greene changes the form and legibility of the images; she lays bare the mechanisms of visibility. Greene asks the viewer, “What is it that you see?”

It’s this question of sight that resides at the heart of “Kept.” How one sees, how one expresses their vision, the differences and frictions inherent to your experience when compared to that of another, are what Greene seeks to study. The pieces in the show are small, the glass panes, similar in size to notebook paper, and the images themselves all bring to mind the portability of Polaroids. The gallery space where they are shown is intimate. Visitors must view the work with intent, with concentration, in order to see outlines of a woman take shape and her expression come into view. Such concentration is another word for care; for its care, attention, devotion to another that allows a plane of a cheek to take shape and the outline of a smile to shine. For Greene, such attention is the meaning of archiving—of this archive—and what it really means to see.

—ANNETTE

LEPIQUE “KEPT” Through 3/25: Tue-Sat 11 AM-6 PM, Patron, 1612 W. Chicago, patrongallery.com

RUnassuming and self-assured

These works radiate a collective harmony that only the most inspired achieve.

The late American artist Chuck Close once famously said, “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” While the first part of that quote may be true, the second part undoubtedly is. It also explains why all of Close’s paintings look pretty much the same: formulaic and uninspired. Inspiration is hard; punching a clock, on the other hand, is pretty easy. Knowing the difference between the two is harder still. Chicago-based artists Aya Nakamura, Megan Diddie, and Alexandra Schutz are inspired, both by their physical engagement with the world and by the methods they’ve chosen to communicate the depth of that engagement. The works in their intimate new exhibition, “Concentrate and ask again,” at Heaven Gallery, are thematically and expressively divergent—befitting their unique minds and interests—but united by a shared love of material and process, fiber, and form.

Nakamura applies color to handmade paper, Diddie renders arborescent worlds with achromatic gouache, and Schutz weaves her way through jute, cotton, and bamboo. The methodical accumulation of marks are the life force that animates these subtle objects. Nakamura’s

Heart (V), punctuated by breaks and ruptures, is both drawing and sculpture and so acts as a formal bridge between Schutz’s ambitious Arch and Diddie’s introspective locating yourself. Unassuming and self-assured, these works radiate a collective harmony that only the most inspired achieve. —ALAN POCARO “CONCENTRATE AND ASK AGAIN” Through 4/16: Fri-Sat 1 PM-6 PM, Sun 1 PM-5 PM, Heaven Gallery, 1550 N. Milwaukee, heavengallery.com

RTogetherness reevaluated

A photo exhibition documents the longtime partnership of Miller and Shellabarger.

Chicago artists Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger have been doing everything together for decades—literally. The longtime partners in art and in life have been working with traditional American cra techniques—silhouette cutting, sewing, crocheting, and bookmaking—but they’re perhaps best known for their performative works: Untitled (Pink Tube), an ongoing nontheatrical performance they started 20 years ago in which they simultaneously crochet at opposite ends of a long tube of pink yarn; Untitled (Origami Cranes), featuring the artists folding paper cranes over the course of three Saturdays, eight hours at a time, on a bed in the window of a Chicago futon store (vaguely bringing to mind John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s nonviolent antiwar protests,

Bed-ins for Peace); and Untitled Performance (Sewing), where they literally stitched themselves together from ankle to neck.

“Miller & Shellabarger: Photography” at (northern) Western Exhibitions, the gallery’s Skokie outpost, is a nod to that work in the form of a collection of photographs—sort of. Interestingly some of the photographs are not mere documentation of the performances but rather very intentional snippets that were initially conceived as such. It provides an intimate look at the artists’ creative togetherness.

Performing in public spaces can be a lot of things: intimate, vulnerable, exhausting. But walking in a space full of light, color, and powerful emotion, one cannot help but feel the spark between Miller and Shellabarger. There’s undeniable infatuation, chemistry, excitement, deep love but also stillness. Then there’s a voyeuristic element: looking at the photographs feels at times even more intimate than watching the performances play out—whether they’re twirling with sparklers (Spooky Distant Action) or letting the long tube of pink yarn unravel. Importantly, there’s a sense of connectedness so strong that overshadows everything else: proof that in the face of life’s unimaginable challenges, togetherness can and will save the world. —VASIA RIGOU “MILLER AND SHELLABARGER: PHOTOGRAPHY” Through 5/6: Wed-Sat noon-6 PM, Sun noon-4 PM, (northern) Western Exhibitions, 7933 N. Lincoln, Skokie, westernexhibitions.com

R Cycles of grief

Fabrizzio Subia’s ‘Año Nuevo’ reflects on ritual, loss, and an annual rejuvenation.

Ecuador celebrates the New Year with fire and ashes. Every year’s final day is defined by reflection and renewal as people erect bonfires to burn painted effigies assembled from old clothes, sawdust, and papier-mâché. These figures, the año viejos, embody the misfortunes of the previous year. Together, Ecuadorians engage in the ritual of rejuvenation, discarding the past to begin again. Fabrizzio Subia, a Chicago performance artist and the assistant manager of exhibitions and development at the International Museum of Surgical Science, returns to Ecuador every year to participate in the New Year celebrations. But this year, Subia performed and documented a separate grief ritual on January 3, with Año Nuevo, dedicated to his brother who passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic’s first wave devastated Ecuador, particularly in the city of Guayaquil. Hospitals quickly became overcrowded and the government intervened, eventually burning the bodies of the dead in the streets. To mourn and remember the dead, Subia burned one año viejo an hour for 24 consecutive hours. The performance evokes the relentless, inescapable sensation of grief, the suffocation of loss. He materializes this labor of grief, filling an entire day with repetition and reflection. Subia’s exhibition features 24 videos, capturing every hour of the ritual simultaneously, illuminating and obscuring the passage of time. Immersed in the ritual, we experience the immensity of the performance. At every turn, ritual and memorial are in action and the passage of time folds onto itself.

—MAXWELL

RABB

“AÑO NUEVO” Through 5/7: Mon-Fri 9:30 AM-5 PM, Sat-Sun 10 AM-5 PM, International Museum of Surgical Science, 1524 N. Lake Shore, imss.org, admission $11-$19, free for members

RBlack culture as a force for change

Kwame Brathwaite captured the music, fashion, and styles of a bygone era.

“Things Well Worth Waiting For” is a small-scale, deeply comprehensive exhibition that transports you to a different time where women wore flamboyant dresses, men drove classic cars, segregation prevailed, and the power of soul music was palpable. Photojournalist and activist Kwame Brathwaite was there, documenting it all—in words and in photographs

Occupying two galleries at the Art Institute of Chicago, the exhibition provides insight into over 70 years of Brathwaite’s work, through photographs, magazines, albums, and color slides from the 1960s to the 1980s, many of which are on view for the first time in decades. Here Bob Marley’s performance at the Wonder Dream concert in Kingston, Jamaica, and Stevie Wonder’s Zaire ’74, a music festival organized alongside the “Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, all come to life.

Passionate about music, Brathwaite traveled far and wide to review performances for publications—from the UK’s Blues & Soul to Japan’s Adlib. More than the energy of the headliners, he captured the social and cultural dynamics of his time. Importantly, he showed Black culture at its essence. Immersed in the inner workings of the entertainment industry (he was a musician and event organizer), he never shied away from documenting the everyday. African diaspora-inspired fashion, natural hairstyles, and statement jewelry were widely featured in his work, serving as a means to social change, equity, and liberation. In an effort to deconstruct the ideology of white aesthetics, he ignited the radical “Black Is Beautiful” movement.

Titled a er the headline Brathwaite wrote for his review of Stevie Wonder’s 1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life, “Things Well Worth Waiting For” encapsulates the 1970s as a period of risk and uncertainty, but also opportunity and a powerful beacon for change.

VASIA RIGOU “KWAME BRATHWAITE: THINGS WELL WORTH WAITING FOR” Through 7/24: Mon 11 AM-5 PM, Thu 11 AM-8 PM, Fri-Sun 11 AM-5 PM, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan, artic.edu/ exhibitions, adults $25 ($35 Fast Pass, $22 Illinois residents, $20 Chicago residents), seniors 65+, students, and teens 14-17 $19 ($29 Fast Pass, $16 Illinois residents, $14 Chicago residents), children under 14 free, Chicago residents aged 14-17, free

BY DONNETTA LAVINIA GRAYS DIRECTED BY VALERIE CURTIS-NEWTON