Yasmin Spiro: Cornerstone

Hyde Park Art Center, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, announces Yasmin Spiro: Cornerstone, the first major solo exhibition of the Jamaican Chicago-based artist Yasmin Spiro. Cornerstone presents the artist’s ongoing examination of vernacular building methods, exploring our physical, spiritual, and emotional foundation in the built and natural environment. Inspired by Spiro’s background, the exhibition is layered with aspects of the land and architecture of Jamaica and considers the cultural hybridity that shapes the island. Spiro’s new, large-scale sculptures, sound and scent work, and ongoing weavings create an immersive installation that invites the audience to contemplate the relationship between the body, architecture, and shared and sacred space. Yasmin Spiro: Cornerstonetakes place at the Hyde Park Art Center from April 19 to November 2, 2025.

The title work is a new, towering installation of a series of 18-foot-tall sculptures created during Spiro’s 2024 Jackman Goldwasser Residency at the Art Center. In construction, the cornerstone refers to the first-laid stone of a building, to which all other stones are positioned in relation. In this exhibition, each sculpture is anchored by a cast "stone" made from plaster, clay, and limestone—which covers a large portion of the island of Jamaica and is a major export—reflecting Spiro’s personal connection to her home island. Topping these forms are smaller, flesh-toned porcelain vessels, evoking the interplay between body and architecture.

To the artist, buildings are not simply physical entities, they are spaces that shape and are shaped by human experiences, culture, and history.

Spiro says, “The cornerstone, in this context, becomes a symbolic link between the built environment and the people who inhabit it. It signifies a shared history, a collective effort, and a sense of belonging - particularly through sacred spaces that are often gathering points for communities and are often a center for spiritual exploration.” Through this multimedia installation, Spiro ultimately poses questions about how people’s identities are anchored to ideas of homeland, nationalism, and the environments in which they live.

Yasmin Spiro: Cornerstone is curated by Allison Peters Quinn and generously supported by the Abakanowicz Arts and Culture Charitable Foundation Research and Production Fund.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica by a family from multiple geographies, the interdisciplinary artist Yasmin Spiro approaches cultural identity with a unique perspective. Through her sculptures and installations, she addresses issues of socio-economic imbalance within the framework of urban development and architecture – often through the lens of Caribbean culture. Spiro works in a variety of media from wood, ceramic, natural and synthetic fibers and textiles to performance and video, exploring materiality while investigating the relationship between the body, nature, and the built environment. She attended Pratt Institute and held residences at the Dora Maar Foundation, The Kohler Arts and Industry residency, Vermont Studio Center, and the Chicago Artist Coalition. She currently resides in Chicago.

ABOUT THE HYDE PARK ART CENTER

Hyde Park Art Center, at 5020 South Cornell Avenue on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, serving as a gathering, production, and exhibition space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks. Since its inception in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center has grown from a small collective of artists to establishing a strong legacy of risk-taking and experimentation, emerging as a unique Chicago arts institution with social impact. Today, the Art Center offers a diverse suite of programs for artists and art lovers of all backgrounds, ages, and stages in their careers including: contemporary art exhibitions in six galleries; an open-access community-based school with 2,000 annual enrollments; weekly arts education to 1,000 elementary school students in public schools; weekly and summer teen programs for 100 teen artists; professional-advancement programs for artists; a local and international artist residency; and public programs that connect residents with Chicago art and artists. The Art Center’s Oakman Clinton School + Studio is the nation’s first fully contribute-what-you-can visual art school for all ages. The Art Center functions as an amplifier for creative voices of today and tomorrow, providing the space to cultivate new work and connections. For more information, visitwww.hydeparkart.org.