ART AND DEMOCRACY | MARK BRADFORD & CARRIE MAE WEEMS JOIN EXPANDING ROSTER OF OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER ARTISTS

Tyanna Buie is working on her installation, Be the Change! for the Obama Presidential Center. Photo Kaylee Pugliese/Courtesy RISD

The soon-to-open Obama Presidential Center in Chicago is fast becoming one of the most ambitious public art programs in recent U.S. history, blending civic dialogue with artistic expression across its 19.3-acre campus. Set to open in spring 2026, the Center has now commissioned works by more than 25 leading contemporary artists, including Mark Bradford and Carrie Mae Weems—two figures whose practices center on identity, history, and community. (Artsy)

Mark Bradford, the nationally celebrated painter and 2023 National Medal of Arts recipient, is known for his layered abstract works that engage with social and political structures through found and everyday materials. His involvement with the Obama Center continues a trajectory of public projects that intersect art, activism, and urban experience. (National Endowment for the Arts)

Carrie Mae Weems, one of the most influential American artists of her generation, was the first Black woman visual artist to receive the National Medal of Arts. Her multidisciplinary work—spanning photography, video, performance, and installation—examines race, gender, power, and narrative in deeply human terms. (Willamette Week)

Their voices join a diverse cohort that includes Jenny Holzer, Kiki Smith, Nick Cave, Alison Saar, Idris Khan, Dorian Sylvain, and others whose site-specific commissions will inhabit museum galleries, public gardens, civic plazas, and community spaces. (Artsy)

From monumental sculptures and murals to immersive environments, these works are designed to activate conversation around democracy, memory, identity, and hope—core themes of the Obama Presidential Center mission. (obama.org)