
Aldobrando “Aldo” Piacenza, Untitled (Florence), n.d. Oil on board, 25 ¼ x 35 ½ in. Collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, gift of Michael Rooks and Jeffery Cassens, 2007.11. Photo by John Faier.
This exhibition focuses on the impact of immigration and the immigrant experience on artists who began self-taught practices upon arriving in Chicago. It explores how identity relates to artists’ efforts in the context of Chicago’s support for culture, exhibition, and community exchange. Themes include longing for one’s homeland, labor, individual expression, and tendencies toward assimilation. The range of subject matter and artistic styles reflects artists processing distinct cultural traditions and memories, intersecting with everyday experiences of living in diaspora.