The Obama Presidential Center Expands Its Historic Public Art Program with New Commissions by Mark Bradford, Tyanna J. Buie, Jay Heikes, Carrie Mae Weems, and Sam Kirk + Dorian Sylvain
A new cohort of celebrated artists joins the Obama Presidential Center’s growing roster, deepening its commitment to being a global destination for free public art.
February 6, 2026 at 10:00 AM CST
Chicago, IL — The Obama Foundation today announced five new artist commissions for the Obama Presidential Center, opening in June 2026 on Chicago’s South Side. Mark Bradford, Tyanna J. Buie, Jay Heikes, Carrie Mae Weems, and a collaboration between Sam Kirk and Dorian Sylvain will create major site-specific works that will serve as catalysts for civic dialogue, inspiration, and connection.
Together, these artists bring a profound engagement with history, memory, and collective identity that is rooted in Chicago and resonates far beyond it, further shaping the Center as a global landmark of public art and civic possibility.
Opening in 2026, the highly anticipated Obama Presidential Center will celebrate not just the Obamas’ legacy but also their belief that ordinary people working together can accomplish extraordinary things. The campus of this dynamic new cultural hub spans 19.3 acres, and features a museum, public library, fruit and vegetable garden, athletic center, programming facilities, and expansive outdoor spaces designed to welcome everyone, from local neighbors to visitors from around the world.
“Public art has always been central to how we tell our stories and see one another,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of The Obama Foundation. “These new commissions build on President and Mrs. Obama’s belief that creativity can help us imagine a better future—one rooted in empathy, possibility, and connection.” Highlights include:
Mark Bradford – City of the Big Shoulders, a monumental painting scaling the 3-story west wall of the Our Story Atrium in the Museum Building, mapping Chicago through an embrace of fragmentation and perspective, collapsing landscape into memory and compressing history into a story of pressure, power, survival, and hope.
Tyanna J. Buie – Be the Change!, a large-scale installation featuring hand-applied ink with screen-printed imagery from President Obama’s election, presented in the Forum Building. The work is centered on hope, change, and the power of civic participation. Buie’s commission was inspired by her personal experience as a young adult participating in Chicago’s annual Bud Billiken Parade, where she stood alongside a group of “Obama for Senate” supporters.
Jay Heikes – Quintessence, a constellation of seven-pointed bronze stars installed along one of the Museum building’s exterior courtyard walls, reflects the complexity of American identity and invites contemplative engagement as sunlight moves across their textured surfaces.
Carrie Mae Weems – The Cool Blue Wind is a photographic collage printed on silver and gold metallic paper with blue tonal overlays, accompanied by original music, presented in the Museum building. The images reference President Obama’s historic win and the freedom found in the organized improvisational nature of jazz. The associated soundtrack, which will be accessible to the public, centers on jazz, collective memory, and democratic participation.
Sam Kirk + Dorian Sylvain – Pass It Forward, a collaborative mural in Home Court, the Center’s athletic facility, celebrates the cultural legacies of Chicago’s South Side, blending vibrant narrative imagery and community history to honor the neighborhoods that shaped the Obama family. The mural embodies the spirit of connection to the past while reimagining the future through the eyes of the next generation.
These commissions join previously announced works by Lindsay Adams, Nekisha Durrett, Spencer Finch, Theaster Gates, Jenny Holzer, Richard Hunt, Jules Julien, Idris Khan, Maya Lin, Julie Mehretu, Aliza Nisenbaum, Jack Pierson, Alison Saar, Kiki Smith, and a collaboration between Nick Cave and Marie Watt. Together they expand the Center’s mission to weave art into civic life, reflecting the Obamas’ longstanding commitment to public art.
“This new group of artists continues to expand the Center’s visual and emotional landscape,” said Dr. Louise Bernard, Founding Director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum. “Their work engages the South Side as both subject and inspiration—drawing on its histories, energies, and communities to explore what civic belonging can look like, for all of us. Through material, memory, and imagination, these commissions deepen the dialogue between art and public life that defines the Center as a global hub.”
From its inception, the Obama Presidential Center envisioned the arts as a core part of its mission. This commitment builds upon the legacy that President and Mrs. Obama instilled at the White House, making it the “People’s House” by opening its doors to diverse voices, disciplines, and perspectives. The commissioned art collection at the Center will carry this ethos forward, amplifying its impact through vibrant public arts programming that brings the collection to life in dynamic and accessible ways. Through performances, workshops, talks, and partnerships, this programming will engage the public, inspire creativity, and spark meaningful dialogue—ensuring that the collection remains at the heart of the visitor experience and a catalyst for community connection.
The artist commissions are curated by Virginia Shore, Curator of the Obama Presidential Center Art Commissions at Shore Art Advisory LLC.
About The Obama Foundation:
The Obama Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world. That mission begins on the South Side of Chicago, where the Foundation is building the Obama Presidential Center. The Obama Presidential Center represents a historic opportunity for Chicago: a chance to build a world-class museum and public gathering space that celebrates our nation’s first African American President and First Lady, steps away from where he began his career, where she was raised, and where—together—they made their home. Not only will The Center generate billions of dollars of economic opportunity and help reconnect and revitalize Jackson Park, it will also serve as a reminder to young visitors—from around the city and from around the world—that their potential is limitless.
See additional information about each of the artists below:
Mark Bradford is an American artist who creates large-scale, abstract paintings from paper and commercial materials that move fluidly between the social and the referential, the everyday and the art historical. Bradford is a recipient of the National Medal of the Arts, the Whitney Museum’s Bucksbaum Award, and a MacArthur Fellow Award. He represented the U.S. at the 2017 Venice Biennale.
Tyanna J. Buie was born the youngest of four on Chicago’s South Side. In the midst of the chaos of the foster care system as a child, Buie was free to create, which gave her a sense of release and enjoyment as she found her voice, her creative vision, and a connection to the outside world. Buie received a BA from Western Illinois University, an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is currently an Associate Professor/Graduate Program Director in Printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design.
Jay Heikes merges abstract painting, video, installation, performance, and sculpture in his materially innovative and richly conceptual practice. Drawing from art’s divergent histories, from Arte Povera to Russian Constructivism and the Romantic sublime, Heikes examines themes of evolution and regeneration. His practice is in a continual state of borrowing and reinterpreting old ideas, forms, and narratives using a kaleidoscopic array of media, remaining perpetually open to transformation within his work and within himself.
Sam Kirk is a multidisciplinary artist inspired by the nuances of the human experience. Her work examines moments of transition and how historical and contemporary events shape us both individually and collectively. Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, she creates visual narratives that honor the beauty, resilience, and complexities of everyday life. Her public art practice is grounded in collaboration and community dialogue, shaping spaces where lived experience is reflected.
Dorian Sylvain is a painter whose color and texture explore ornamentation, pattern, and design as identifiers of cultural and historical foundations. A studio painter and muralist who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, she is also an art educator, curator, and community planner. She has led public art projects over the past four decades that empower communities and expose children to art-making to build the next generation of “cultural keepers,” often addressing beautification inspired by color palettes and patterns found throughout the African diaspora.
Carrie Mae Weems was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1953 and lives in Syracuse, New York. She earned her B.A. from California Institute of the Arts and her MFA from UC San Diego. Weems has developed a complex body of work that employs performance, video, audio, text, fabric, and installation, but she is best known as a photographer. Weems is the recipient of the John D. and T. MacArthur Foundation genius grant, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Medal of Arts Award, among others.
### CONTACT: Emily Bittner, press@obama.org
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