What feels especially timely right now, as the Trump administration sues sanctuary cities, bans transsexual people from serving in the military, all but shutters American borders to migrants, destroys diversity programming at every level and decimates federal support for libraries and the arts? These exhibitions do:
“Raqs Media Collective: Cavalcade”: What might it mean to live in solidarity with animals, ghosts, mythic beings, natural elements, even machines? The New Delhi artist collective, founded in 1992 by Monica Narula, Jeebesh Bagchi and Shuddhabrata Sengupta, explores a radically expanded notion of cosmopolitanism in a new film and a trio of prints, the latter made in collaboration with AI. Through July 11 at the Neubauer Collegium, 5701 S. Woodlawn Ave., neubauercollegium.uchicago.edu
“The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939”: Part two of this extensively researched exhibit takes as its starting point the year in which the term “homosexual” was coined and includes the earliest known European image of a same-sex couple and the first modern trans representations. These, plus more than 300 other artworks by over 125 artists from 40 countries, capture the enormous range of identities, sexualities, and genders that are true to the human experience. Through July 26 at Wrightwood 659, 659 W. Wrightwood Ave., wrightwood659.org
“Huguette Caland: Bribes de corps”: While living in Paris in the 1970s, the Lebanese artist, who died in 2019 at the age of 88, produced a group of paintings called “Body Bits.” Some appear simply abstract, others have funny little people doodled here and there, many are filled with big, bulbous shapes. But all of Caland’s brilliantly hued canvases are also fleshy and funny and female, in ways that speak of bold corporeal pleasure. This largest presentation of the series to date also includes two embroidered caftans made — and worn — in a similarly gleeful spirit. Through Aug. 2 at the Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St., artsclubchicago.org
“Into the Hourglass”: Prison art comes in many forms, including paños, intricate drawings on commissary handkerchiefs made as communication to loved ones. Created by incarcerated Chicanos throughout the 20th century and up to the present day, they employ a wide variety of symbols, from Aztec warriors to bubbles, and bespeak the intimate thoughts and feelings of a population too often silenced. Through Aug.10 at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org
“CROSSINGS”: There aren’t any local monuments to Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman pilot; or to Wendell Scott, the first Black man to win a NASCAR event; or to the Black Farmers Settlement, the largest civil rights payout in American history. But there should be, so Bernard Williams built them out of plywood and steel, in the form of a full-scale airplane, race car and tractor. He put them on view in the park adjacent to the museum, as well as indoors, where they are joined by a series of his enigmatic paintings. Through Aug. 17 at the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst, elmhurstartmuseum.org
Intuit Art Museum reopens: Twenty months and $10 million later, Chicago’s newly renovated home for folk art is fully accessible, greatly expanded, and all dressed up in a sparkly façade by Bob Faust, remixing artwork from its permanent collection by Lee Godie, Derek Webster and others. Inside, Henry Darger gets a permanent two-room exhibit all his own and there’s even a gallery for collection highlights. The inaugural temporary show is “Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago,” featuring folks born in locales as far-flung as North Korea, India and Honduras, all of whom ended up here, making new lives, making art. Through Jan. 11, 2026, at Intuit Art Museum, 756 N. Milwaukee Ave., art.org
Arts of Life 25th Anniversary Celebration: Since its founding, Arts of Life has gone from providing studio space for nine artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities to supporting more than 80 practitioners, in three facilities across the Chicago area. Their artists show at art fairs, curate a gallery and are widely collected— which is to say, their artists help shape the broader culture. That’s plenty cause to celebrate, as Arts of Life has been doing all year, with the publication of a beautiful book, a series of guest-curated exhibits at their in-house gallery, and two big, upcoming public events: a retrospective group show at the Design Museum and a giant video projection on the Merchandise Mart façade. “sounds better with you,” Through July 11 at Circle Contemporary, 2010 W. Carroll Ave., artsoflife.org; “Community on the Make” runs Aug. 11 to Jan. 10, 2026, at the Design Museum of Chicago, 72 E. Randolph St., designchicago.org; “Art on the Mart” runs Sept. 11 to Oct. 5 on the Chicago Riverwalk and Wacker Drive between Wells and Franklin Streets, artonthemart.com
“Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography”: Who makes an image? Created as an exhibition companion to a landmark publication of the same name, “Collaboration” reassesses humanistic photography to decenter the photographer as singular author and emphasize the process as one involving many parties. Drawn entirely from the MoCP collection and guest curated by three of the book’s editors, feminist scholar Laura Wexler and the eminent photographers Susan Meiselas, who documented the Nicaraguan Revolution, and Wendy Ewald, known for giving cameras to minority communities to help them represent themselves. Through Aug.16 at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave., mocp.org
“Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World”: Do we need another blockbuster Impressionist exhibition? Not really, but Caillebotte’s unusual attention to masculinity gets a welcome highlight in this enormous traveling show, which debuted at the Musée d’Orsay last fall and is full of fantastic loans, including “Floor Scrapers” and “Man at His Bath.” Unlike his male peers, Caillebotte painted not only modern Parisian street scenes, like the AIC’s beloved “Rainy Day,” but also domestic ones, portraying intimate tableaus of leisure and labor alike. June 29 to Oct. 5 at the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave., artic.edu
“City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago”: This latest of the MCA’s thematic local survey shows begins in the mid-1980s amid the AIDS crisis and ends in the near present. Archival materials from activist groups like ACT UP background the tender, on-the-streets documentary work by Patric McCoy and Doug Ischar; domestic arrangements by William J. O’Brien and Guanyu Xu; and visionary creations like Nick Cave’s “Soundsuits” and Robert Lostutter’s watercolors of mysterious men wearing feathered masks. “The Free Clinic for Gender Affirming Care,” a mural by architectural fantasist Edie Fake, enlightens the museum’s atrium in a related project. July 5-May 31, 2026, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E. Chicago Ave., visit.mcachicago.org; Edie Fake’s atrium mural is on view through March 29, 2026, visit.mcachicago.org
“Pixy Liao: Relationship Material”: Never mind all those picture-perfect social media posts documenting your cousin’s latest romance. This is how you photograph a romantic partnership: over many years, with humor and collaboration, in staged images that upend conservative gender roles while still managing to be brave, sincere, and revealing. Featuring 45 cleverly titled images from the time the artist met her muse, musician Takahiro Morooka. July 26 to Dec. 8 at the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave., artic.edu
Lori Waxman is a freelance critic.
