Please join us for an Artist's Talk and Closing Reception

We are pleased to present a conversation between Artists Damon Locks and Andres L. Hernandez

A Closing Reception for Damon Locks' Exhibition "We Are Our People / Listen To This" will follow until 4pm

No RSVP necessary - We look forward to seeing you!

Andres L. Hernandez is a conceptual artist and educator who explores models for imagining and existing otherwise. Inspired by the cultural, knowledge, and spatial production of African-descent peoples, his practice encompasses collaborative, socially-engaged, and independent artmaking.⁠⁠

Hernandez’s projects include individual and collaborative commissions for Threewalls, University of Arizona, Venice Architecture Biennale, and Pulitzer Arts Foundation and Washington University in St. Louis. With Dark Adaptive, he co-developed performances for The Drawing Center, Graham Foundation, MoMA, Sharjah Biennial, and Performa.⁠

Hernandez’s residencies include MCA Chicago’s SPACE program at Curie High School and University of Chicago’s Arts + Public Life initiative, and he has received awards from 3Arts and Efroymson Family Fund. He is an Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.⁠

Damon Locks is a Chicago-based visual artist, educator, vocalist/musician. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago where he received his BFA in fine arts. Since 2014 he has been working with the Prisons and Neighborhood Arts Project at Stateville Correctional Center teaching art. He is a 2025 recipient of the Creative Capital Award. In 2017 he became a Soros Justice Media Fellow. He received the Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Achievement Award in the Arts in 2015. In 2019, he became a 3Arts Awardee. He spent 4 years as an artist in residence as a part of the Museum of Contemporary Arts’ SPACE Program, introducing civically engaged art into the curriculum at Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy High School. He teaches Improvisation in the Sound Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As well as being a solo musician, Damon leads the Black Monument Ensemble, is a member of New Future City Radio, Exploding Star Orchestra and co-founded the band The Eternals.⁠

⁠Damon Locks photo credit: zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o'neal For additional exhibition views and information about "We Are Our People/Listen to This," please visit our website.