Won’t You Celebrate With Me?
Work by Reevah Agarwaal, Cay Mims, and Nekita Thomas, curated by Sidney Mori Garrett
"what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed."
– an excerpt from won't you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton
Won't You Celebrate With Me? is an exhibition where artists Reevah Agarwaal, Cay Mims, and Nekita Thomas journey through memory, weaving truth and wonder to investigate what lies beyond the surface.
Part personal archive, part apparition, this exhibition explores themes of memory, lineage, and impermanence. Agarwaal, Mims, and Thomas take their past narratives and shape them into new realities, seeking deeper understanding of what may remain unsaid. Together, they question the ways in which we construct and control our own memories.
Memory distorts and preserves. Lineage is grounded in continuity. Impermanence unsettles both, reminding us that nothing is immune to loss or change. In this exhibition, memory becomes a reconstruction, lineage becomes invention and impermanence becomes the only constant.
This is a celebration of what we make true.
ARTIST AND CURATOR BIOS
Reevah Agarwaal is an artist based in Chicago, IL, born and raised in New Delhi, India. She earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2024. Inspired by the aesthetics of girlhood, her work incorporates feminine palettes and decorative elements in quilts and collages. By reinterpreting childhood photographs, keepsakes, and lived experiences, she delves into themes of adolescence and Indian family dynamics. Utilizing found and inherited textiles, she reframes perceptions of domesticity, womanhood, and identity.
Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and fairs, including Expo Chicago, The Other Art Fair, FLXST Contemporary, Bridgeport Art Center, and Chicago Art Department. In 2024, she was awarded the New Futures Award from The Other Art Fair and is currently a resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition.
Cay Mims is a Black, queer artist living on the Northside of Chicago. Their primary goal is to synthesize sociological frameworks with their personal experiences. Their work is overwhelmingly concerned with representing themes of displacement, erasure, impermanence and memory. Qualitative and curious, never didactic, and infused with personality; they seek to create moments that are comfortably familiar to some, while amicably informative to others.
Cay also is an emerging, independent arts programmer and curator. Placing an emphasis on marginalized artists, they have hosted and supported creative events around the city for the past year. This includes facilitating/moderating a series of artist conversations in conjunction with shows at the German Cultural Center and (formerly) The Martin; curating an emerging artist pop-up at DragonFly Gallery; and hosting a Black Pride Movie Screening at the Logan Theater.
Cay graduated in 2021 from Vanderbilt University with a BA in Studio Art and a BA in Sociology. They have shown work in a number of galleries nationally including Space 204, Nashville TN; Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery, Valdosta, FL; Buckham Gallery, Flint, MI; M. G. Nelson Gallery, Springfield, IL; The Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, IL.
Nekita Thomas is a multidisciplinary experiential graphic designer, educator, and researcher dedicated to harnessing design for social impact. Her work focuses on the intersection of race, well-being, and urban design, spatializing justice and reimagining the civic role of design in our lives and communities. Bridging graphic design, tactical urbanism, and civic engagement, her research explores design's capacity to strengthen communities, initiate radical imagining, and amplify civic participation through anti-racist placemaking solutions. Thomas's initiatives, including public installations and participatory design workshops, guide communities toward envisioning and actualizing healthier, more inclusive, and just spatial environments and futures.
She has presented her work across disciplinary domains on both national and international stages, including venues such as the Krannert Art Museum, the Black in Design Conference at Harvard (BiD), the American Institute of Graphic Arts Design Educators Conference (AIGA), the International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference (IASDR), and artist residencies such as at Ragdale Foundation.
Sidney Mori Garrett is a Houston, TX born, Chicago, IL based curator, arts administrator, and artist. Her artistic, administrative, and curatorial practice is rooted in her southern mixed-race Black Feminist’s lens of love, mindfulness, and care. She received a Bachelor ofFine Arts in Photography and Digital Media from University of Houston and a Masters of Fine Art in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of Art Institute of Chicago.
ABOUT CHICAGO ARTISTS COALITION
Founded in 1974, CAC began as a small group of artists advocating for rights, support, and visibility. Currently located in West Town, CAC is a non-profit organization that supports contemporary Chicago artists and curators by offering a residency program, exhibitions, professional development and resources that enable them to live, work and thrive in the city.
Chicago Artists Coalition’s mission and programs are funded by City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Driehaus Foundation, Field Foundation of Illinois, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, Terry and Donna King, Nancy Herring and John Balfe, Statsinger Cohen Foundation, and the generosity of our board members and supporters.
