Letters Beyond Form: Community Archiving

The Letters Beyond Form exhibition at the Design Museum of Chicago explores the text based expression of Chicago. We focus on letterforms developed within Chicago's distinct communities made for their communities through graffiti writing, calligraphy, sign painting and more traditional design forms like publication or printing. The research draws connections between immigrant communities, AALANA identities, design history, and how people express love and care for their communities in the design of their everyday lives. This work brings to light many unknown and underrecognized craftspeople to acknowledge their contributions to Chicago design and the daily landscape of the City. It also brings into the conversation how those traditions are linked to contemporary practices and local artists and designers.

Description of Program:

We invite members of the Bronzeville and Hyde Park communities to join us in building an archive of design and oral histories about the visual landscape of the neighborhood and their own lives. In this workshop we will explore different ways of making meaning with text styles and in signage, graffiti, and publications. By conversing about documents, art, and other artifacts of daily life that participants bring in, we will record oral histories linked to the Bronzeville and Hyde Park neighborhoods and the people who live there. Finally, participants will receive preservation materials and learn how best to store and preserve their own personal artifacts and record their personal narratives to build their own archives of their life history and experiences. 

Please bring your personal or family historical documents or photographs that have signs or text in them. You will receive direction and help preserving these materials and can use them as prompts to discuss their influence in your life and local histories. 

Some participants will be invited to share their artifacts and narratives in the upcoming exhibition on the topic of Letterforms in Chicago at the Design Museum of Chicago and SSCAC.