Duro Olowu At MCA: Seeing Chicago through a Kaleidoscopic Lens

Written by Ayana Contreras on March 6, 2020

Installation view, Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago, 2020. Photo: Kendall McCaugherty.

Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago through a Kaleidoscopic Lens …

The Seeing Chicago exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (curated by Duro Olowu), immediately bombards you with powerful works by Chicago-bred artists. AfriCOBRA and Judy Chicago alongside Amanda Williams. But, according to Reclaimed Soul’s Ayana Contreras, what it offers is even more than that. It’s a reflection of Chicago’s kaleidoscopic lens, trained towards the world.

Olowu says that “I felt that, in this show, there needed to be a strong statement of what I saw, not just imagined, on the streets of Chicago. So, human interaction with other humans, with architecture, with ideals, with histories, both good and bad, the reimagining of all these histories and emotions and ideals was a major source of inspiration for the show.”

Seeing Chicago is at the MCA until May 10th, 2020. Audio of Duro Olowu and Naomi Beckwith was provided by the MCA and produced by Antenna.

This piece originally aired on Reclaimed Soul with Ayana Contreras. Catch a full two hours of soulful power on Thursdays at 8pm (CST) or Sunday at 8am on Vocalo 91.1fm in Chicago, streaming live worldwide here. Or you can catch a one hour fun-size version on Friday night at 10 on WBEZ 91.5fm.