Graffiti from the streets of Chicago pours into the Hyde Park Art Center in this large-scale assemblage of spray, stencil and wheat-paste. With a focus on their inspirations and social justice issues, seven women working in graffiti and street art come together to display their skills and creations in a multimedia mural on the 2nd floor of the Art Center. The final wall collage will reflect the street from which they come: Streets filled with the imprints, emotion and struggles of the people. Artists include photographer Eve Rivera, photographer and street artist Zorzorzor, illustrator and yarn bomber MonstroChicka, and artists/graffiti writers Stef Skills, Zena, Shan, Bel2, Gloe, and Beloved. The collaboration was assembled by Liz Lazdins.
Featured Artists
Bel2, Beloved, Gloe, Monstrochika, Eve Rivera, Shan, Stef Skills, Zena, and ZorZorZor.
About Liz Lazdins
Raised on the Southside of Chicago, Liz Lazdins, aka Beloved, spent her youth in the 1980s and 1990s totally immersed in the Chicago Hiphop community. A double threat as a (graffiti) writer and rapper, she stayed busy creating her work on the insides and outsides of buses and trains throughout Chicago. At 19 she was a founding member of the Vision Village- one of the earliest Hiphop community centers in Chicago- and also a member of the city-wide organization Chi-ROCK (Chapter 3 Allstars). Her underground hiphop roots can be seen in almost everything she creates: large scale colorful murals, pieces and illustrative works. Currently a mother, poet and activist for human rights, she still finds time to leave her mark on the streets preferring to stencil her messages and images on sidewalks to catch people off-guard and “remind them there is always more going on than what is seen on the surface.” Recently Lazdins contributed to the Graffiti Garden mural project along the Bloomington 606 trail and showed at NIU’s Jack Olsen Gallery alongside Mario “Zore” Gonzalez Jr. and Ruben Aguirre in the exhibition Graffiti Imagery In Contemporary Art.
