2020
Glicée print
11 x 8.5 in

In 1968, Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress, representing New York’s 12th congressional district in the House.  She ran for president of the United States in 1972. I’m invested in her candidacy for the extraordinary and lasting material change it inspired. I am also invested in speculating what could have happened had she been elected President in 1972; I am invested in what might have happened had any number of conditions been different and had any number of people made a different set of choices in that election. To recognize that what could have been, for me, is also to invest in what can be.

President Chisholm was my contribution to Round 1 of Art for Philadelphia, a community fundraising initiative organized June 2020 by ICA Curator Meg Onli. Art for Philadelphia was a response to the surge of resistance to police violence against black communities. From Art for Philadelphia’s website: “Philadelphia has long been home to visionary community organizing for black survival. At this moment, AFP is a conduit for crucial funding for local community-led organizations, many of whom have been doing this work for years and who are demanding systemic solutions to end the criminalization of being black. These include paying cash bail, defunding the local police force, and direct support for incarcerated people.” Art for Philadelphia ran three rounds of fundraising and donated the proceeds from these limited run editions to Philadelphia Community Bail Fund , Hearts on a Wire and the Amistad Law Project .

Art for Philadelphia was organized by Meg Onli with River Jukes Hudson, Maori Karmael Holmes, Molly Brandt, Melissa MacNair, Caitlin Palmer, Kira Rodriguez, and Robert Chaney.