Harris bank chicago works presents:
Faheem Majeed
MCA Solo Show, 2015
Chicago Works transformed the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago into a living site for reflection on care, community, and the politics of space. I used the exhibition to explore what I call the “publicly domestic”—a meeting place between public institutions and the intimate, often unseen labor that sustains them.
At the heart of the show was Planting and Maintaining a Perennial Garden (2015), a floating gallery modeled after the Margaret Burroughs Gallery at the South Side Community Art Center. Wrapped in stained cedar panels recalling the warmth and spirit of that historic space—and its roots in the New Bauhaus—the installation created a room within a room. Throughout the exhibition, it was activated by artists and community collaborators whose programs left traces of their presence behind. Over time, it became a living monument to collective making, a reminder that art institutions thrive only through continual tending and care.
Nearby, You Than Me (2015) stacked twenty plaster crucifixes—each depicting an African Christ—into a fragile tower inspired by Sister Rosemary Brennan’s act of replacing white crucifixes at St. Philip Neri with Black ones, saying, “He probably looked more like you than me.” Like Majeed Cares (2014) and other works, it bridged personal and communal narratives, turning overlooked materials into reflections on faith, value, and transformation.
Rather than a retrospective, Chicago Works was an active proposition—an exhibition that asked what it means to build, to belong, and to care, together.
Curated by Steven Bridges
MCA Talk: Lashana Jackson and Faheem Majeed
Harris Bank Chicago Works Presents: Faheem Majeed. Museum of Contemporary Art