Urban Innovation Black History Month Colloquium: Tonika Lewis Johnson скачать в хорошем качестве

Urban Innovation Black History Month Colloquium: Tonika Lewis Johnson

From Redlining to Reimagining: Visualizing What Could Be What if we could see the full impact of historic predatory housing practices—not only as data, but as lived experience and lost possibility? In this talk, artist Tonika Lewis Johnson presents a body of work that bridges archival research, photography, and speculative storytelling to examine the long-term consequences of redlining, contract buying, and systemic disinvestment in Chicago’s Black neighborhoods. Drawing from projects including Folded Map, Inequity for Sale, and UnBlocked Englewood, Johnson explores how creative practice can both reveal structural inequities and contribute to repair. While her visual work surfaces the enduring legacy of discriminatory housing policies, UnBlocked Englewood represents a community-led, block-by-block approach to restoration—supporting home repairs, reclaiming land, and advancing collective ownership in response to historic harm. By visualizing both what exists and what could have been, Johnson invites audiences to consider how art can illuminate injustice while also opening pathways toward repair, belonging, and a more equitable future.