To Reclaim: Kavi Gupta | 835 W. Washington Blvd., Chicago, IL

Reclamation is a strategic framework. Reclamation is an action (to reclaim) and a goal (to have reclaimed). Reclamation has present and future potential, but its very being implies a history: RE-claim, a reassertion of autonomy, a process of claiming something back. Reclamation can be a physical process related to objects or land, a financial process, or a social process.

A claim is a right, a being of ownership, or a statement; to reclaim is to take back the right, take back ownership, or restate. Reclamation is land being returned to its original state. Reclamation is a pejorative phrase repossessed by its subject, who takes claim of its power. Reclamation is financial redress. Reclamation is taking back political representation in a republic whose leaders fail to serve the people. Reclamation is repairing broken objects and returning their dignity through purpose. Reclamation is returning to the old gods, reviving old traditions.

To Reclaim is an exhibition featuring six artists—Willie Cole, Genevieve Gaignard, Deborah Kass, Mary Sibande, and Stan Squirewell—whose work “reclaims” in some form, be it reclamation of material, reclamation of symbol, reclamation of history, or reclamation of conceptual power.