What is "Lawndale: A Living History"?

This summer, the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot will debut our second exhibit, "Lawndale: A Living History." We're excited to be able to bring it to you, and wanted to tell everyone what it's about - the what, who, when, where and why - in advance of the opening.

WHAT: "Lawndlae: A Living History" will be a photo and oral history showcasing elders in and from North Lawndale. The exhibit will be an opportunity to celebrate those who have helped keep the neighborhood strong over several decades, and to hear the stories from their lives.

The Lawndale Pop-Up Spot is the first community museum in a shipping container in a community garden in Chicago (and perhaps anywhere!). The Pop-Up Spot opened last summer with "A Safe Place," an exhibit curated by teens with Gardeneers' After School Matters program that focused on building community safety and reducing violence. (WTTW's Chicago Tonight had a great overview of "A Safe Place" here.)

WHO: "Lawndale: A Living History" is curated by Jay Simon, a local photographer who recently curated the "Fathers Lead" exhibit in North Lawndale. It is co-curated by a team of West Side high school students from several different schools, and supported by students from the School of the Art Institute and other experts. The teens have been meeting all spring to learn about exhibit design, oral history collection, photography, and neighborhood history.

The featured elders will be announced next month.

"Lawndale: A Living History" is co-sponsored by the North Lawndale Historical and Cultural Society, Chicago Public Library Douglass Branch, Chicago History Museum, OPEN Center for the Arts, and Gardeneers. The exhibit is made possible in part thanks to a generous grant from the Field Foundation.

WHEN: Due to coronavirus, the anticipated opening (this weekend, in connection with Juneteenth celebrations) has been moved to early August. We are closely monitoring the city and state health guidelines, and will work hard to comply with stringent best practices to ensure safety (including potentially limiting viewing to outdoor photographs).

For more information about our opening, stay tuned here, or on Facebook/Instagram, or sign up for our mailing list by shooting us an email.

WHERE: The Lawndale Pop-Up Spot is located at the northeast corner of 16th and Spaulding, in the Spaulding Memorial Garden. Photos will be on the outside and inside of the container, as well as additional locations around North Lawndale (to be announced).

All photos and stories will also be available virtually.

WHY: It's never a bad time to celebrate and honor our elders, and to create dialogue between generations. But in 2020, it feels especially powerful, for so many reasons. Justice, black lives, history, health, and community are on our minds more than ever. And this exhibit will allow us to explore all those themes in highly visible and meaningful ways.

We continue to use this blog to think about these issues, to highlight our creative process, and to post stories. If you are a current or former North Lawndale resident and have a story you'd like to share about your experiences, please email us for inclusion on this blog! We'd love to feature a variety of perspectives from people of all ages.