Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s

April 20—August 4, 2024

Chicago Cultural Center, Michigan Avenue Galleries, 1st Floor East

Chicago Cultural Center > Visual Art Program > Exhibitions > Past Exhibitions > Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s

(Diana Solís, Flexing our Muscles: Gathering of Friends, Greenview Street, Lakeview, Chicago, IL, 1981, Archival Piezography Print, 30x40”, Photo Courtesy the Artist)

Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s presents a range of photographic practices that used the medium as a tool for collectivity and empowerment within interconnected lesbian, trans, and queer grassroots organizing. This exhibition reveals the technologies through which influential image cultures were constructed and circulated. The exhibition presents a range of photographic practices to explore the process of learning within alternative schools, workshops, demonstrations, dance clubs, slideshow presentations, correspondences, and community-based archive projects.

Featured artists and collectives include: Diana Solís, Joan E. Biren (JEB), Lola Flash, the Lesbian Herstory Archives, ART+Positive and the Sexual Minorities Archives, among others. Images on which to build, 1970s-1990s is curated by Ariel Goldberg. The exhibition is co-organized by the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY. The exhibition was originally presented as a FotoFocus exhibition on the occasion of the 2022 FotoFocus Biennial: World Record September 30, 2022 – February 12, 2023.

Newcity Article (May 6, 2024): Celebrations of Queer Life Through Photography: A Review of “Images on Which to Build 1970s–1990s” at the Cultural Center

Curatorial Essay / Ariel Goldberg, April 2024 (PDF)

Programming Schedule

Saturday, April 20

1-4pm
Opening Reception with contributing artists in the Michigan Avenue Galleries, Chicago Cultural Center, 1st Floor East
Artists Diana Solís, Lola Flash, Joan E. Biren (JEB ), Frank Franca, Morgan Gwenwald, and Allan Frame will each conduct 15 minute Q&As about their work with the exhibition's curator, Ariel Goldberg

7pm-midnight
Opening Afterparty featuring TRQPiTECA at Dorothy, 2500 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622

7:30-8:30pm
A conversation amongst contributing Images on which to build artists Diana Solís, Lola Flash, Joan E. Biren (JEB ), Frank Franca, Morgan Gwenwald, and Allan Frame facilitated by exhibition curator Ariel Goldberg

9pm-midnight
DJ set by Chicago duo TRQPiTECA

Visit us:

Admission is FREE
Open Daily, 10am–5pm
Exhibitions close 15 minutes before the building closes
(Closed Holidays)

Plan Your Visit

Find us:

Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602

Chicago Cultural Center Google Map

Take CTA to Chicago Cultural Center

From the elevated lines: exit at Washington/Wabash and walk east.
From the subway: exit at Lake (Red Line) or Washington (Blue Line) and walk east.
Served by Michigan Avenue buses 3, 4, 19, 20, 26, 60, 66, 124, 143, 147, 151, 157 and Washington St. buses 4, J14, 20, 56, 66, 147

Thursday, June 13

6-7:30pm
Diana Solís and Victoria Martinez in Conversation, moderated by Risa Puleo
Chicago Rooms, 2nd Floor North
Join us for a public conversation between current Chicago Cultural Center exhibiting artists Diana Solís (Images on which to build, 1970s - 1990s) and Victoria Martinez (Braiding Histories). Risa Puleo, independent curator and PhD candidate at Northwestern, will moderate the conversation between these two Pilsen-based artists.