The Living Image of Sound: Notes on Jazz and Protest at Northwestern

An exhibition exploring the intersections of visual art, music, and student-led social justice movements during the late '60s and early '70s. 

The Living Image of Sound: Notes on Jazz and Protest at Northwestern is a concise exhibition featuring artwork and ephemera related to the trailblazing poet and musician Sun Ra and The Arkestra jazz ensemble, including a painting by the musician and visual artist Ayé Aton. The Arkestra’s practice is put into conversation with photographs of music venues across Chicago by Ted Williams, Mikki Ferrill, and Ronald L. Freeman, as well as images of and by Northwestern University students, reflecting a dynamic network of musicians, artists, listeners, and activists. The students—some of whom would eventually share a stage with Sun Ra himself—took up the mantle of artmaking and activism in response to local and global crises on and beyond their campuses from anti-Black racism to the Vietnam War.

The exhibition traces a history of collective acts by musicians, artists, students, and activists to engage in creativity, community, care, and collaboration during times of social and political crisis.