Home, Place and Positionality is a two-person, trans-cultural exhibition featuring South Korean-born, Haerim Lee (Chicago, IL) and North American-born, Fatima Laster (Milwaukee, WI). Lee’s small-scale weaving paintings that reflect site-specific materials and memories of Chicago and Laster’s “America Dreaming” series– 2-D mixed media home constructions incorporating obstructed family photos from gentrification-threatened childhood residences– intermix to visually address how their disparate birth geographies and chosen and forced relocation influence and challenge the notion of home, belonging and racial and cultural identity. Laster’s and Lee’s distinct art approaches intersect further with intimately curated family photo albums documenting their personal home stories and journeys that allowed their culturally contrasting paths to cross. 

The artists invite viewers to engage with the work, sharing their own written mementos about home, place and their identity in reference to specific spaces and exchange stories during the show’s closing artist talk.

Fatima Laster

Fatima Laster is a self-taught interdisciplinary visual artist, curator and owner-operator of 5 Points Art Gallery + Studios. With a Black American vantage point, Laster’s independent and communal practice broaches social-political subject matter (i.e. racism, sexism, classism, cultural appropriation, housing/land appropriation/displacement also known as “gentrification”, etc.), producing resistance art imbued with humor or irony in an attempt to disarmingly reveal rejected or overlooked perspectives and people.

Haerim Lee

Haerim Lee's art stimulates dialogue with communities through painting, public murals, ceramics, artist books, and photography. Her practice is rooted in ethnographical research, exhibiting her work in public and gallery spaces. She investigates the history of an architectural site—such as the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, Cabrini Green, or the murals on the South Side of Chicago or in Gary, Indiana— and translates into in her studio practice. Her practice critiques of institutionalized demarcations of power. Originally from S. Korea, a monoethnic country, she is interested in multi-racial dynamics, particularly in the South Side of Chicago, where she currently living in the neighborhood with diverse ethnicities from different backgrounds and cultural heritage. Unlike a homogenous culture, living in a particular environment helps her learn other people's stories and create a learning space together. She hopes to generate thinking about power dynamics and how to understand one another.

Opening Reception:

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ACRE Projects Lakeview
2921 N Clark St
Chicago , IL 60657

Wheelchair Accessible

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