our duty to fight Organized by Black Lives Matter Chicago

our duty to fight is a call to join the rebellion being waged. Organized and curated by Black Lives Matter Chicago (BLMChi) and allied movement organizations and projects, this exhibition holds space for survivors and families bereft of justice and healing under anti-Black state violence, while offering a living testament to the specific and shared struggles that have been the core of radical world-making and visioning in Chicago organizing.

At the center of the exhibition will be new artworks by Chicago movement artists, created with the collaboration of families and survivors waging struggles for accountability and respect for their fallen. Accompanying these works will be a digitally based design referencing the Movement for Black Lives as made manifest in social media, as well as artworks and ephemera highlighting the paths to recent intersectional movement victories. Moreover, to enable multiple forms of coming together, the exhibition will include an artist-designed space for large and small scale performances, workshops, and knowledge sharing.

A series of exhibition programs aims to highlight trending questions and provocations raised by #BlackLivesMatter movement work: How are we to honor what survivors (and their families and communities) have lost—and what they have abandoned—to envision and animate grief, safety, and healing? How do we transform violence and oppression into self-defense and harm reduction? How do we vision a reality where Black Lives not only matter, but are liberated?

our duty to fight spurs dialogue and action toward realizing liberation, abolishing oppressive systems, and maximizing opportunities to practice justice. Most directly, our duty to fight invites exhibition visitors to join the struggle against state repression and terror, while working toward building collective power.