Chicago Artists On How Public Housing Shaped Their Creativity

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (0:11)
Hey Chicago, I'm Sasha-Ann Simons, and this is In the Loop.
Be sure to stick around to the end of the podcast for a rundown of the day's top local stories. But first, when people think of public housing, they often picture dilapidated buildings, tall or short, with a lot of units packed in. But creatives tend to see something else. They notice the neighborhoods, the people, relationships and daily routines. And if they've got personal experience living in public housing, it shapes not only how they view the world, but the art they choose to create. A new exhibition at the National Public Housing Museum by artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn does exactly that. It includes a re-creation of the Robert Taylor Homes apartment he grew up in. In this episode of the pod, we'll learn more about the exhibition and hear from Chicago creatives about how being raised in public housing continues to influence their art. At the table was Floyd Webb, filmmaker, producer, and founder of Black Light Festival, former Harold L. Ickes Homes resident.
Toni Asante Lightfoot, who's a poet and creative writing instructor, and former Hilliard Homes resident. Toya Wolfe, who's a writer and author of Last Summer on State Street, and she's a former resident of Robert Taylor Homes. And Tiff Beatty, who's associate director of the National Public Housing Museum. Tiff kicked things off with more on what the museum does.

**Tiff Beatty** (1:37)
The National Public Housing Museum is the only cultural institution in the United States that's dedicated to preserving, promoting, and propelling the history of public housing.
And we do that through arts, culture, history, storytelling, and lots of public programs and events that bring people together. But we're really about the right of all people to a place to call home.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (2:02)
You know, a lot of people, as I was getting ready for this conversation, I was thinking people might not make the connection right away with public housing and art. Quickly, across the table, what links do you see between the two? Toya, want to go first?

**Alma Campos** (2:15)
Public housing, art.

**Toya Wolfe** (2:16)
I mean, I definitely think I don't write anything without like layering in place. And this is the place I know better than anywhere else. So it was like bound to show up in my debut novel and probably everything else that I write.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (2:28)
Yeah, I like that. Toni?

**Toni Asante Lightfoot** (2:31)
Public housing is housing. So homes show up in art, so public housing will.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (2:36)
Floyd?

**Floyd Webb** (2:38)
Proximity.
Where I lived, it was about proximity. I lived on the edge of Brownsville, which is the name of a project I have. On 22nd and State Street, at Cermak, bordered by Chinatown, McCormick Place, Muhammad Speaks newspaper, Chicago Defender, Quinn Chapel Church, Chess Records, VJ Records, and Johnson Publishing, all walking distance.

**Toni Asante Lightfoot** (3:00)
And Hilliard Homes.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (3:02)
Makes sense. And Tiff?

**Tiff Beatty** (3:04)
Yeah, I mean, I love what everyone has said, and I think that's true. I think public housing is housing.
Housing communities are communities, and a lot of people will come together within communities around art, whether that's music, culture, food. And I think even between communities, art is a way to bring people together. These issues, when you talk about public housing, especially if you don't have any context, you didn't grow up in it, can be very divisive. You know, we were talking before this about how we have these stigmas of the welfare queens and things like that, that people have in their mind. And so art can sometimes break down those barriers.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (3:39)
So let's talk about some art. You're hosting Nathaniel Mary Quinn's exhibit. It's titled A Love Letter to My Mother. So who is Quinn, for those who might not know, and what is he exploring through this artwork?

**Tiff Beatty** (3:50)
Yeah, Quinn is this amazing contemporary artist. So even public housing aside, we have brought in so many different people who just love his work. It's very, you know, provocative. It brings up a lot of emotions and that's really, you know, the power of art and of culture is to bring people into their bodies and into their memories and their feelings.

**Sasha-Ann Simons** (4:11)
He recreated his living room at Robert Taylor Homes.

**Tiff Beatty** (4:13)
Yeah. Yeah. So when he saw the museum, he got really inspired. We have a couple of recreated apartments and he was like, wow, this brings back so many memories. I want to bring back my living room, which was the walls of Robert Taylor were my first canvases and my mom let me draw on the walls.