The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, UIMA, in Chicago has opened the exhibition Home Grown Vol. III, which explores the relationship between humans, the plant world, and the environment. The exhibition will run through September 6, and a mobile exhibition tour through Chicago’s city parks and community gardens has also become part of the project.
This was reported by Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.
The exhibition, curated by Lauren Iacoponi, was created with the participation of more than 20 artists from the U.S. Midwest. In their works, they use natural pigments, plant dyes, handmade paper, botanical materials, fungal mycelium, and handmade bioplastic.
The organizers note that Home Grown Vol. III has become a kind of “green space” within the urban environment, where artworks are integrated among living plants. Throughout the exhibition, some of the exhibits will change, grow, and decompose, demonstrating the natural cycles of life.
Many of the project’s participants work in the field of bioregionalism, exploring the history of local plants and natural ecosystems. They take part in community gardens and greenhouses, hold educational events, cultivate native plant species, combat invasive species, and use grown materials to create natural dyes, paper, and art objects.
Along with the opening of the exhibition, the Home Grown Exhibition Tour also began — a traveling exhibition that will journey through Chicago parks and community gardens on the Unpacked Mobile Gallery truck until July 18. The mobile exhibition presents works by artists whose pieces are featured in Home Grown Vol. III, as well as a series of risograph prints. According to the organizers, the project allows people to experience art without having to visit a gallery.
On opening day, an interactive workshop on natural fabric dyeing and the creation of natural pigments was also held under the guidance of artists Maven Kennedy and SK Reed, who are participating in the exhibition. Participants learned how to find, process, and use natural materials to create artworks.
Artist Hillary Johnson, creator of the project The Attentive Field, thanked curator Lauren Iacoponi for the opportunity to take part in the exhibition and called the mobile gallery one of the most original exhibition spaces she had ever seen.
After the opening, project participants noted the atmosphere of cooperation and communication between artists and visitors. Hillary Johnson called the mobile gallery one of the most original exhibition spaces she had ever seen.
“What I will take away most is generosity. Conversations with other artists. The chance to see so many outstanding works. And the attentive time that people devoted to my installation. This is an entirely new work for me, and sharing it was truly exciting. Hearing visitors stop, ask questions, find their own meanings, and share such sincere responses was an extraordinary gift. This, to me, is what exhibitions should be — not only places where objects are displayed, but spaces where people share their attention,” stated she.
Background
The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, UIMA, is dedicated to preserving and promoting contemporary art as a shared expression of Ukrainian and American cultural experience. The institute supports the development of artistic talent through exhibitions, concerts, literary readings, lectures, and film screenings, meeting the cultural needs of the community and the city while fostering intercultural dialogue and diversity.
Photo: The Attentive Field
Author: Inna Mikhno