The Blacksidency and the Black Presidential Imaginary was a conversation about Obama’s presidency in relation to popular cultural imagination of a Black President. This conversation featured artists Nazafarin Lotfi and Alberto Aguilar whose work was in the recent exhibition “The Barack Obama Presidential Library” at the Southside Hub of Production (SHoP) curated by Jorge Lucero. The conversation compared cultural images of the Obama charismatic character and the ramification of Barack Obama’s presidency. To learn more about Lucero’s Obama Library project visits jorgelucero.com.
Alberto Aguilar is an artist residing in Chicago, IL. He teaches at Harold Washington College where he also coordinates Pedestrian Project and initiative dedicated to making contemporary art practice more accessible and available to all. In spring 2015 he was Crossing Boundaries Resident Artist through the Arts Incubator and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture. He just returned from a family road trip that lasted 7 weeks and crossed 12 of the United States. Learn more about Aguilar at albertoaguilar.org
Nazafarin Lotfi received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011 and her BA from the University of Tehran in 2007. Lotfi’s work has been included in exhibitions nationally and internationally, including Italy, South Korea, Hungary, Germany and Iran. Recent exhibitions include Poiesis at Fernwey Gallery, Chicago, IL; White Light at Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL; Pattern Recognition at Ana Cristea Gallery, New York City, NY; Not Safe for Work at DUVE Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Learn more about Lotfi at nazafarinlotfi.com
Presidential Library Project 