The Obama Presidential Center has announced a new commission by Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates, who will create a large frieze made of photo-printed aluminum using images from the Johnson Publishing Company archives—the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines—and the work of photographer Howard Simmons. The installation, set to open in 2026, honors the dignity of Black life and the vibrancy of Black culture throughout the 20th century. Gates has been working with 20,000 photographs from the archive since 2016, and the frieze will be visible from Stony Island Avenue, near his own Stony Island Arts Bank. Other high-profile commissions for the center include works by Julie Mehretu, Maya Lin, Lindsay Adams, Nick Cave, Aliza Nisenbaum, Jenny Holzer, and Idris Khan.
The commission matters because it enshrines a historic Black publishing archive as a central public artwork on Chicago’s South Side, elevating the legacy of Johnson Publishing and the everyday dignity of Black life to a national stage. The Obama Presidential Center, a museum and library celebrating President Barack Obama, is using major art commissions to anchor its identity and connect with the local community, with Gates’s deep ties to the area reinforcing the center’s commitment to cultural heritage and democracy.