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Welcome To Blanc | Art Gallery

A Culture of Conversation

GUESTBOOK

Blanc Gallery’s 2024 Exhibition series is To Reveal the Beloved in honor of James Baldwin’s 100th birthday year.  Baldwin states, “Societies never know it, but the war of an artist with his society is a lover’s war, and he does, at his best, what lovers do, which is to reveal the beloved to himself and, with that revelation, to make freedom real.”   Throughout 2024 we will engage with our community to co-think how important the artist and the arts ecosystem is in the process of revealing the edges of the world to itself. Using a local lens, we will be looking at the way arts networks can provide a framework for engaging with and addressing the issues that our communities face at the level of the individual, communal, and infrastructural.

Our inaugural exhibit this year is Guestbook, curated by Blanc co-founder Cliff Rome.  GuestBook breathes life into the Parkway Ballroom’s remarkable archive, fusing the past and present into a participatory dialogue between the community and the gallery.  This unique exhibition invites Bronzeville residents to contribute their own stories, memories, and artifacts, transforming the gallery into a living testament to the collective narrative of this dynamic neighborhood.

At the heart of GuestBook lies a loving reflection on the hallowed ground where the Parkway Ballroom and Blanc Gallery stand.  Through a curated “call out,” Rome will delicately craft an exhibition that mirrors the essence of this historic site, connecting the dots between the past and present.  With brilliant partners like Sherry Williams and Ayana Contreras, Rome will evoke the days when Bronzeville was the cultural heart of Chicago’s black community