'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born,' an exhibition by zakkiyyah najeebah dumas o’neal, explores Lake Michigan as a connector for the between, highlighting common experiences of joy, love, intimacy, and kinship across time. | ✍️ Rachel Dukes
All around the gallery, the visitor is engulfed by water—by the lakefront—and is grounded and connected in this ocean of union.Lake Michigan has served as my compass since I moved to Chicago. I will never forget an old coworker telling me to remember “the lake is always east!” when I described how lost I’d get trying to find my way around the city.
In “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born,” artist zakkiyyah najeebah dumas o’neal explores the lake as a connector for the. With Black Chicago as the focal point, the exhibition highlights common experiences of joy, love, intimacy, and kinship across time. It features an assemblage of videos from the Chicago Film Archives as well as videos taken by the artist from various south-side vantage points along the lakefront.
The sounds, colors, and visuals of the lakefront serve as the guide throughout the exhibition. There is no stopping or ending point in this space. Commissioned by Chicago Humanities Festival with Chicago Film Archives, and created in collaboration with music composer Ayana Contreras, dumas o’neal’s filmis projected on the south wall of the gallery.
The connections between each piece flowed steadily as I continued exploring dumas o’neal’s journey to and through self-realization and belonging. Perpendicular to the montage of archival and speculative footage, the continuous loop of glowing and flowing water in a video installation entitledreminded me that through it all, the water still flows.
zakkiyyah najeebah dumas o’neal’s work is an invitation to wade in an understanding of the world where we’re each propelled by a desire for connectivity. In “The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born,” water is the Spirit that connects us to ourselves, to a virtual sense of knowing and remembering, and to one another. The water is tangible, and it is always within reach.Through 5/15: Thu-Fri 2-7 PM, Sat 1-5 PM, Arts + Public Life, 301 E.
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