CHICAGO — A group of creative collaborators want to introduce Chicago to the “Black Future Newsstand,” a traveling exhibit that made a stop at South Side gallery on Friday.
The Black Future Newsstand is a collective and creative effort to highlight and pour positive and affirming messages about the Black community into society.
“Hopefully when people walk away from it we hope that they will understand that if the media system can be repaired our communities can achieve justice and safety for all,” co-creator Collette Watson, from the Nedia 2070 Project, said.
Chicago was the third stop for the touring exhibit on display inside of Gallery Guichard in the 400 block of East 47th Street in Grand Boulevard.
Curators designed the pop-up newsstand which is meant to represent the future of media.
The creatives behind the project said they hope the newsstand will help tear down the negative portrayals of the Black community which are at times depicted in dominant society, culture and institutions, including the media.
Inside the newsstand, people can walk around and find various publications, including newspapers, magazines, zines and art created and written by Black artists and journalists.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the Black Thought Project and Media 2070.
“The Black Futures Newsstand is an art installation, but most importantly, an invitation for folks to dream and imagine a media system that is a lot different from our own. So a media system where the stories of Black people are affirmed, are uplifted. A media system where we have ownership and control of the ways we are shown throughout media,” Eteng Ettah, from Media Justice, said.
The Black Futures Newsstand was on display until 3 p.m. on Friday.