Legacy/Seepage
2022
Salvaged Chicago common brick
7’ x 7’
This piece consists of salvaged Chicago common bricks arranged in a 7’ circle, spelling out the words “HEREIN LINCOLNLAND.” As the self-proclaimed “Land of Lincoln,” Illinois has allowed the former president’s name to seep into every inch of its soil — including the clay extracted from the ground in the greater Chicago region to form these bricks — growing ever farther and more detached from the reality of the man himself.
Legacy/Seepage was the product of a year-long virtual artist residency administered by the University of Illinois Springfield. Twenty Illinois artists were brought together for regular discussions and presentations about Abraham Lincoln, and were asked to make work addressing his legacy. The residency culminated in the exhibition “Making Our History: Artists Render Lincoln’s Legacies,” mounted in Springfield, Illinois, at the UIS Visual Arts Gallery, the Springfield Art Association, and the Lincoln Presidential Library, in the summer of 2022. The piece is now a permanent part of the UIS art collection.
Click here to watch a video about the work, which was produced by UIS and presented alongside the exhibition.