Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates’s socially engaged practice explores the history of objects and the built environments that engender racism, exploitation, and the denigration of Black identity. Gates’s work—which spans sculptures, installations, archives, and performances—is informed by architecture, urbanism, and Black history. At times, the artist has made the south side of Chicago, where he grew up, central to his work, yet he’s also considered Black space and identity at large. Gates received his MA from the University of Cape Town before receiving his MS in urban planning from Iowa State University. This discipline continues to inform his practice. Gates has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Shanghai, Milan, and Chicago, and his works belong in the collections of the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Tate, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Gates also founded the Rebuild Foundation, which organizes community arts programming and spurs cultural development on the south side of Chicago.