Relic

(2022)

Exhibition Info

Arts Incubator (Chicago, IL)

Group Exhibition featuring works from Abigail Lucien, Janelle Ayana Miller, Kevin Demery, Lakela Brown, Rhonda Wheatley, and Shonna Pryor

Relic, inspired by the traveling billboard piece, "There Are Black People in the Future," by artist Alisha Wormsley, explores what cultural Black artifacts and emblems of today will be left behind to reflect our time here and inform the future. McKissick, poses the question, “what will we find when we get there?” to explore what shapes future identities in the beyond. Artists Abigail Lucien, Janelle Ayana Miller, Kevin Demery, Lakela Brown, Rhonda Wheatley, and Shonna Pryor explore Black relics through documentation, intuition, collecting, spirituality, and the land through mineral and food.


Relic also includes a complementary website for the exhibition that allows for a deep dive into the works, artists, and influences that make up the exhibition. The site was regularly updated with posts throughout the show. 

Image Captions: Left to Right— Untitled (vanity), steel, cocoa butter, florida water, matches, acrylic, 2022; Untitled, bronze, enamel, 2022; A Softening, Video (16:32), 2021; All works by Abigail Lucien

Artist Talk: Shonna Pryor, Janelle Ayana Miller, and Kevin Demery in conversation with Relic curator Ciera McKissick 

Images Courtesy of Robert Chase Heishman