An art exhibit kicking off Friday reimagines modern Chicago teens as the sort of bold explorers one might encounter in a history book.
The portraits depict teen participants of Chicago Voyagers, a non-profit that takes kids ages 14 to 17 from underserved communities on outdoor adventures, such as canoeing and camping, to build confidence and leadership skills. The free exhibit — titled “The Future Voyagers” — will be on display at the Epiphany Center for the Arts (201 S. Ashland Ave.) in West Town, starting Monday through Sept. 6. Ticketed launch events will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The concept for the exhibit was created in a pro bono partnership with the Chicago advertising agency Highdive. Paintings of 14 Voyagers will be available for purchase, with proceeds benefitting the artists and the Chicago Voyagers.
“This exhibit is about rewriting the narrative of who belongs on our trails and waterways and improving access to safe outdoor spaces,” said Pat Burke, who is executive creative director at Highdive and serves on the Chicago Voyagers board of directors. “The transformative power of the outdoors should be available to everyone, and we’re placing these courageous, curious, and resilient youth at the center — exactly where they belong.”
Burke has led Voyager camping and canoe trips and seen first hand the power of nature on kids who’ve had little access to it.
“I was on a canoe trip with a group of girls from North Lawndale, and they kept looking up as I was trying to teach them how to paddle,” he recalled. “They were looking at a hawk. They’d never seen a hawk and wondered if it was going to hurt them.”
On a separate hiking trip Burke backtracked to check on a boy who was lagging behind. “He was simply staring at the trees. He’d never seen trees that big before and he was just in awe,” he said.
Another boy who lived in a hotel with his family was able to go camping as a Voyager and came out of his shell after learning to fish.
“It was like he was a totally different kid; he was the first one up and at my tent asking to go fishing,” Burke said. “Getting these kids out of their environment and showing them a different world, it’s cool to see.”
The vast majority of Voyagers are people of color who live below the poverty line and many come from neighborhoods where gangs and trauma are an unfortunate reality.
“At first no one wants to speak, there’s a wall there,” Burke said. “They come from an area where they always have to be cool and tough, but by the third or fourth trip, the wall comes down and they open up.”
Mike Ware, a producer at Highdive, tapped his friend, Chicago artist Dwight White II, to recruit other diverse artists, paint portraits and curate the exhibit. White is a former Northwestern University football player who says he began painting to ward off depression after his athletic career was cut short by injury. “This program lets these kids know that there’s life and opportunity beyond the day to day of what’s in their aperture,” White said.
An audio tour for exhibit goers will also be available, featuring clips like this one from 15-year-old Maya Hernandez, of Cicero: “I think an explorer is somebody that tries to find the unknown and someone that’s brave and someone that’s willing to put themselves first for people to know what’s happening in the world … I feel like explorers, they find joy in little things, and they find big ideas and little ideas.”