EXPO CHICAGO ’23 is a city-wide staging of culturally-diverse arts—
A celebratory “We Are the World,” Stevie Wonder’s 1985 USA for Africa sing along. From Derrick Adams’ uber-monumental art projections on Chicago’s Merchandise Mart façade on the Chicago River to Theaster Gates’ remarkable Rebuild South Side art-music-culture-gardens scene, Chicago is framing and honoring ethnic and gender diversity.
Suchitra Mattai's art was a strong presence in Chicago. The artist participated in the Art Expo Forecast Forum, and her monumental work created from everyday women's saris was featured at the fair, at the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), and at Kavi Gupta Gallery. Born in Guyana and living in Los Angeles , this Indo-Caribbean multi-disciplinary artist uses collage, fibers, drawing, film, installation, and video to give worn domestic cultural artifacts new values and settings. Her visually-engaging art unravels colonial narratives to valorize women’s bodies, work, and lives. Mattai has a solo show in July at Roberts Projects, Los Angeles.