The Obama Presidential Center announces commission by Theaster Gates

The Obama Presidential Center have announced a landmark public artwork by Theaster Gates, celebrating Black Chicago’s legacies of creative power, self-determination and indefatigable resolve, which will anchor the Center’s Hadiya Pendleton Atrium.

The new installation, which celebrates photographic material from the Johnson Publishing Company image archive and the Howard Simmons photographic collection, continues the artist’s ongoing practice of exalting and reifying Black cultural legacies through the preservation of archives and everyday materials, bringing renewed value to the stories, creativity and collective memory that have shaped American life.

The commission will be unveiled at the forthcoming opening of the Obama Presidential Center in 2026. With the arts as a central part of its core, the Center will stand as a beacon of hope, storytelling, and public possibility, connecting visitors across generations through creativity, civic action, and shared humanity.

Speaking of the commission, Gates has said, ‘I am deeply honored to be commissioned to create a new artwork for the Obama Presidential Center, a beacon of democracy, just a couple of blocks from where my non-profit, Rebuild Foundation has invested in land and cultural assets as tools for creative self-determination for over two decades. This opportunity moves me to bring forward the photographic legacies that capture moments of great strength and elegance from the Johnson Publishing Company archive (images by Moneta Sleet, Jr. and Isaac Sutton) and the personal archive of photographer Howard Simmons. My hope is to ground the power of these visual histories in a new context, reminding us of the collective resolve that shapes our communities. At a time when artists are increasingly playing a critical role in protecting memory and in contributing to the democratic ideals that continue to shape who we are and what we strive to become, it is deeply meaningful to contribute to this historic space.’