Hairpin Arts Center Proudly Presents

The Greater Good: Stories and Images from Life During COVID-19

A Group Show Including the Art of Aaron Wilder

November 8-December 12, 2020

Original exhibition curated by Federica Ghidelli and Denise Orlin at RS Chicago Photography Classes' Within Sight Gallery September 11-November 6, 2020. The Hairpin Arts Center, located in Logan Square, is organizing a virtual show extending The Greater Good: Stories and Images from Life During COVID-19. The show will be mounted at the gallery but considered 'virtual-only,' given pandemic restrictions.

In 2011, the Logan Square Chamber of Arts established the Hairpin Arts Center in the historic landmark Morris B. Sachs building, now known as the Hairpin Lofts.

The City of Chicago bought the building and put out a request for bids, choosing Brinshore Development to redevelop the space. Emphasis was placed on historic preservation, environmental sustainability, and neighborhood revitalization. The building has been skillfully and accurately restored. From the exterior façade to the interior where marble and terrazzo flooring were refinished and original design elements restored, the result is a LEED certified, eco-friendly, mixed-use development with affordable rental housing, ground floor retail, and the Hairpin Arts Center on the second floor serving as a cultural hub for the area.

Hairpin Arts Center

2810 North Milwaukee Avenue

Second Floor

Chicago, IL 60618

In the last few months, life as we know it has completely changed. Certainty and normal routines were replaced by insecurity, challenges, and sometimes fear. We’ve been forced to reexamine our priorities and change our habits in the hope of preventing the spreading of this worldwide disease. In response to this pandemic, our Country is coming together, state by state, city by city, neighborhood by neighborhood. Although challenging, this time is becoming our chance to reveal the good around us, to show the strength we did not know we had, to cherish friends, and to thank the people who are working every day to keep us safe. We are putting our families, loved ones and their health first, leaving our empty workplaces, outdoor spaces, and even our inner comfort zone behind.

Work from Aaron Wilder's Where is Home? project is included in the exhibition. Where is Home? is a series of black and white 120 film photographs (shot on a Holga) depicting aspects of physical geography from the artist's past that used to hold meaning for him but now feel distant. By photographing areas years after Wilder's attachment to those structures has faded away, he seeks to invoke feelings forgotten and memories blurred. In many cases, these spaces are no longer recognizable between what he remembers and the photograph. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting shelter-in-place, and the artist's unemployment, Wilder finally had time to edit many of these photographs. This also provided an opportunity to reflect upon childhood memories and how they relate to activities that we can no longer do in quarantine. This gave Wilder the opportunity to meditate on the overlapping feelings of isolation between his earliest memories and the current situation.