The South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC) will host “Hooded Truths”, an exhibit of the works of Candace Hunter, opening June 13 at SSCAC, 3831 S. Michigan Ave. The exhibit is “a cornucopia of images, ideas and personas all swathed in the costume of 21st Century America – the hoodie. In the exhibit Hunter explores the history of Blackness in this country. A history that Hunter describes as ‘”a painful and complicated affair, brightened by the indomitable spirit of countless fathers, mothers, teachers, clergy and artists who continue to shed light on this country’s “Hooded Truths””.
The exhibit kicks off with an Opening Reception on June 13 from 6 – 9 p.m. There will be an Artist Talk at the Center on July 12 followed by a Closing Reception. “This exhibit was conceived and evolved in part as a response to the crisis of violence we face in our communities and also the repercussions of the assault on African American youth as evidenced by the Trayvon Martin trial, the acquittal of Michael Dunn for shooting of Florida teen Jordan Davis and other such incidents”, said Arcilla Stahl, acting executive director of SSCAC. “Candace Hunter is familiar to our city and a friend of the SSCAC who has done amazing commentary on issues affecting not just our city but the world, and she continues to engage the conscience of our community”.
Most recently, Candace called attention to the world’s water shortage and the impact that it has on women and children globally with her series “Dust in Their Veins” at the DuSable Museum.
“Hooded Truths” follows in the vein of “Maleness to Manhood”, an exhibition of 45 African American male artist held at SSCAC in the fall of 2013 curated by Raymond Thomas and Dayo Laoye.
For more information about “Hooded Truths” or to support this exhibit please call SSCAC at 773-373-1026. Follow the conversation on social media using the hashtag #hoodedtruths
About Candace Hunter
Candace Hunter, a native of Chicago, studied the plastic arts and performance arts at Barat and Mundelein Colleges in the Chicago area. Her early work was what she coined, “non-traditional batik”. Always affronted by the Euro-male created lines of the validity of “art” and understanding that batik was considered either a “folk” or “craft”, Hunter took it to another level that matched the parameters of the Western idea while leaning on the technique and creative force of the African perspective. A child of formally educated parents – a mother with wanderlust, a COBOL speaking father, Candace traveled throughout Europe and northern Africa before the age of ten. Seeing the wee small girl in the corner of the enormous “Night Watchman” at the Louvre, the foot of the pyramids and the ceiling of the Basilica in Rome at such an early age, cemented the idea of beauty, grandeur and of service. Hunter, in her work, has most often created a world in which she honors family, sacred text, or most recently, water scarcity. She often works in series, “Ethi-Oh-My!”, spoke to her love of Ethiopia and Selassie and “Prayer Circles: Sacred Text and Abstract Thought” invited disparate communities to examine art together.
About SSCAC
Situated in the heart of Bronzeville for seventy-one years, The South Side Community Art Center grew out of the Work Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Arts Project of the 1930s. Of 110 Federal Art Project’s centers, the SSCAC is the only surviving art center and the oldest African American Center in the country. The center’s mission is to continue to establish the organization as a resource for the art’s community locally and abroad. This is maintained through monthly exhibitions, public classes, in-school educational programming, and events and programming such as an annual trolley tour and speakers series.
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