Anthem

Exhibition Available for Viewing Here

Weinberg/Newton Gallery (688 N. Milwaukee), a non-commercial gallery dedicated to promoting the work of social justice causes, today announced that the upcoming exhibition, Anthem (formerly titled If we do not now dare everything), will be presented online and in the gallery’s storefront windows. Available for viewing from Friday, Sept. 11 through Saturday, Dec. 19., the exhibition is presented in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and will examine voting rights in the United States of America through the works of contemporary artists Bethany Collins, Jaclyn Conley, Eve L. Ewing, Mike Gibisser, Naima Green, Ellen Rothenberg and Sanaz Sohrabi.

Planned to coincide with the 2020 election cycle and the November presidential election, Anthem will look past partisan divisiveness and focus on the issue of voting as a fundamental right. Curated by Weinberg/Newton Gallery Co-Director Kasia Houlihan, the works on view in the exhibition will examine familiar emblems of American patriotism, along with experiences of collective identity and acts of resistance. Four poems by sociologist, author, poet and Chicago native Eve L. Ewing are included. A window installation by Ellen Rothenberg, viewable in the gallery storefront from Milwaukee Avenue, will showcase historical and contemporary images related to the voting rights movement in the U.S. over the past two centuries. Rothenberg’s installation continues online, where visitors will be able to click and discover related supplementary media. Anthem will also be updated throughout the run of the show, with Naima Green contributing regular installments of Open Tabs Piece (2020).

Visitors will be able to leaf through America: A Hymnal (2017) by Bethany Collins, a book bound and executed in the likeness of a shape note hymnal, comprised of 100 different versions of My Country ‘Tis of Thee written over the past two centuries. In its many lyrical variations, which alternately espouse temperance, suffrage, abolition and even the confederacy, America: A Hymnal is a chronological retelling of American history, politics and culture through one song.

The various mythologies ascribed to political leaders - their likenesses as well as their legacies - are also scrutinized. In two new works, Canadian painter Jaclyn Conley grapples with an inability to integrate imagery of the idyllic American life with the ever-present coverage of national conflicts and internal divisions. Viewers will be able to closely explore the texture of these paintings and gain insight into the artist’s process. A video essay by Sanaz Sohrabi, Notes on Seeing Double (2018), characterizes the public as a collective corpus and weaves together observational footage with historical images, wavering between imagination, fiction and reality.

Two video works by Mike Gibisser will offer moving portraits of civic identity across the Midwest. With nighttime long exposures, Blue Loop, July (2014) documents Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, both a historical and modern-day immigrant community, as it celebrates America’s independence on July 4. In Travel Stop (2018) the artist contemplates the interiors of the world’s largest truck stop in Walcott, Iowa, and the familiar American backdrop of travel and transience.

We are honored to partner with the ACLU at this critical juncture in the history of our country as they fight against efforts to curtail our constitutional rights, and hope that the platform we offer can bring this issue to the attention of a wider public,” said Weinberg/Newton Gallery Executive Director David Weinberg. “The shift to a mostly virtual exhibition is an opportunity for us to reach new audiences and consider new modalities of access.

A robust public programming series, organized in collaboration with the ACLU, will also be offered virtually throughout the run of the exhibition and encourage open dialogue on civil liberties, voter suppression and the role of art in social justice movements. A full schedule will be announced at a later date.

In 2014 Weinberg/Newton Gallery framed an ambitious new mission – to become a presenting platform for social justice issues through collaboration with artists and non-profit organizations. The gallery aims to create space for dialogue about social justice issues relevant to local, national and international communities. Keeping in line with their mission, the gallery’s business model divides the proceeds from sales of art between the artist and the partner organization.

Image Caption: Sanaz Sohrabi, Still from Notes on Seeing Double, 2018, Video with sound. Courtesy of the artist.

About the American Civil Liberties Union

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

About Weinberg/Newton Gallery

Weinberg/Newton Gallery is a non-commercial gallery with a mission to collaborate with nonprofit organizations and artists to educate and engage the public on social justice issues. Through artwork and programming, the gallery provides a vital space for open discourse on critical contemporary issues facing our communities. Connecting artists with social justice organizations, we work to drive change and cultivate a culture of consciousness.

History of Weinberg/Newton Gallery

In 2016, David Weinberg Photography became Weinberg/Newton Gallery. The change reflected the values of The Weinberg/Newton Gallery Family Foundation, which has been led jointly by David Weinberg and Jerry Newton since 2009.Image Caption: Sanaz Sohrabi, Still from Notes on Seeing Double, 2018, Video with sound. Courtesy of the artist.