Chicago, United States
Website Tonika Lewis Johnson is a nationally recognized social justice artist and photographer, and a lifelong resident of Chicago’s South Side Englewood neighborhood. Her art is synonymous with bold, transformative work that exposes how segregation continues to shape Chicago’s built environment, communities, and narratives. She is the creator of the Folded Map Project, a multimedia exploration that connects “map twins”—residents who live on the same street but miles apart in racially and economically divided neighborhoods and founder of UnBlocked Englewood, a housing and public art initiative restoring a single block in her community. Tonika is a 2025 Pritzker Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and a 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellow. Her work has earned honors including Chicago Magazine’s 2017 Chicagoan of the Year, the American Red Cross 2025 Social Justice Impact Hero Award, and recognition in Architect Magazine’s “Game Changers” issue. She is also co-founder of the Englewood Arts Collective and a member of Chicago’s official Reparations Task Force, using art to confront injustice and inspire healing.
Amanda Williams is an artist who uses ideas around color and architecture to explore the intersection of race and the built environment. Her works visualize the ways urban planning, and disinvestment impact the lives of everyday citizens, particularly African Americans. Through an interdisciplinary practice that brings architectural and aesthetic theory to bear on real social problems, Williams is clarifying the role of the artist in reimagining public space. She has an ongoing practice of elevating seemingly mundane objects and spaces to a renewed status of importance. In doing so, she also demonstrates an unusual route to community buy-in and agency. Her work is in collections including the MoMA, NY; the MCA, Chicago; The Art Institute of Chicago; and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. She is co-author of a forthcoming permanent monument to Shirley Chisholm in Brooklyn. Her many recognitions include USA Fellow, a Chicagoan of the Year, and a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. She received her B.Arch from Cornell University.
