Paper Trail

February 3 - March 7, 2009
Reception: Wednesday, February 4, 5-8pm

Paper Trail is an exhibition of historical and contemporary ephemeral material originally produced by disparate communities using remarkably similar forms of rhetoric and graphic styles to visually articulate their collective revolutionary agendas and concerns.

The historical material was created, produced, and distributed in the late 1960s by Chicago's original Rainbow Coalition—an alliance between The Black Panther Party, the Young Lords Organization, Young Patriots, and Rising Up Angry. This material is presented "in conversation" with what can be considered its contemporary counterpart­—visual reproductions of the Barack Obama presidential campaign, language of the newly formed Rainbow Coalition Council of Elders, and publications from other contemporary initiatives in Chicago and beyond that re-engage with the principal of grassroots political organizing and cross-cultural solidarity. The movements share a common idea that despite our dire collective circumstance a spirit of hope and optimism results and acts as a unifying, mobilizing force.

This exhibition is organized by curators Nancy Zastudil and Julia Hamilton, with the support and participation of Kathleen Cleaver, Michael James, Bill Jennings, Cha Cha Jimenez, Jaqueline Lazu, and countless others.