The Obama Presidential Center Expands Its Public Art Legacy with Next Wave of Monumental Commissions

CHICAGO — The Obama Foundation announced today an additional group of ten celebrated artists whose commissioned work will be featured across the Obama Presidential Center’s expansive campus, the vast majority of which is free and open to the public.

These ten luminary and rising artists — Nick Cave, Nekisha Durrett, Jenny Holzer, Jules Julien, Idris Khan, Aliza Nisenbaum, Jack Pierson, Alison Saar, Kiki Smith, and Marie Watt — represent a diverse and dynamic cross-section of the global contemporary art world and reflect the Center’s commitment to free, accessible public art as a vital force in civic life. 

Their forthcoming installations are part of the Center’s initiative to commission over 25+ new site-specific works, ranging from monumental sculptures to intimate murals and immersive environments. The result is a bold, multidisciplinary arts program that will animate nearly every corner of the Center, inside and out. 

This highly anticipated Center opening in spring 2026 will celebrate the legacy of America’s first Black American President and First Lady as a vibrant cultural hub, designed to immerse visitors in the ideals and practices of a dynamic democratic society. Spanning 19.3 acres, the campus will include a museum, public library, fruit and vegetable garden, athletic center, and expansive outdoor grounds designed to engage everyone from global visitors to community neighbors. 

“Art has the power to reflect who we are and to shape who we aspire to become,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of The Obama Foundation. “President and Mrs. Obama have always believed in the ability of artists to help us see our common humanity and imagine a more just future. These extraordinary commissions will not only enrich the Obama Presidential Center, but they will also invite every visitor to feel inspired, respected, and connected. These remarkable pieces will undoubtedly leave people feeling hope in their own ability to make the change they want to see in the world.”  

From its inception, the Obama Presidential Center envisioned the arts as core to 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, and talks, 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.

A monumental multimedia textile installation is made with beaded nets embedded with sculptural jingle elements. This Land, Shared Sky merges Indigenous and Black traditions in a celebration of movement, sound, and shared resilience. This work marks the first collaboration between Nick Cave and Marie Watt. 

An ambitious freestanding sculpture installed in the Harriet Tubman Courtyard, Hem of Heaven, embodies community, strength, and collective effort. Composed of thousands of handmade, perforated ceramic tiles intricately interwoven, the work offers a vibrant reimagining of Harriet Tubman’s shawl. 

A richly layered text-based painting draws from FBI files on the Civil Rights-era Freedom Riders, who expanded the freedoms of African Americans to travel through the United States and legitimized the use of nonviolent direct action. Holzer transforms instruments of surveillance into a memorial to their remarkable courage and achievement.

A digital mural on Level 5 of the Museum Exhibits of eleven thematic illustrations composed of thousands of dots, each symbolizing the journey from individual to collective action and the ripple effect of democratic participation. 

Sky of Hope, an immersive, site-specific painting consisting of thousands of hand-stamped words referencing President Obama’s Selma speech - the same text that is permanently sculpted into the Museum building’s exterior.  These words will radiate from the apex of the ceiling to create a contemplative environment that invites reflection on democracy and the power of public voice.

A sweeping mural, Reading Circles/ Weaving Dreams/ Seeding Futures, depicts moments of civic life within a public library, offering a living portrait of community in action. Centered on the library as a place of dreaming, storytelling, planting the seeds of knowledge and shared histories, the work underscores its role as a vital gathering space.

A word sculpture spelling HOPE from found letters, referencing Pierson’s iconic use of nostalgic Americana and echoing President Obama’s defining campaign message.

A towering cast bronze figure inspired by the Statue of Liberty, Torch Song embodies the soul of Chicago’s blues heritage. Raising a gilded flame skyward in song, she becomes a beacon of resistance and truth, igniting viewers to challenge the status quo and expose injustices. 

Receive is the largest of the artist's bronze sculptures with moon and stars. It celebrates our shared connection to the cosmos, offering hope, orientation, and solace at the heart of the museum. 

These artists join a distinguished roster that includes Lindsay Adams, Spencer Finch, Richard Hunt, Maya Lin, and Julie Mehretu. Additional commissioned artists will be announced in the months before opening.

“Each of these commissions is a meditation on civic life,” said Dr. Louise Bernard, Founding Director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum. “From the intimacy of painting to the scale of public sculpture, these works speak to themes at the heart of the Center: resilience, memory, identity, and hope. Together, they create a deeply textured cultural landscape that reflects our past, animates the present, and gestures toward the future.” 

The Obama Presidential Center is slated to open in spring 2026. With the arts as a central part of its core, the Center will stand as a beacon of hope, storytelling, and public possibility, connecting visitors across generations through creativity, civic action, and shared humanity. 

The artist commissions are curated by Virginia Shore, Shore Art Advisory LLC, Curator of the Obama Presidential Center Art Commissions. 

See additional information about each of the artists below.

Nick Cave

Nick Cave is well known for his “Soundsuits”, surreally majestic objects blending fashion and sculpture, that originated as metaphorical suits of armor in response to the Rodney King beatings and have evolved into vehicles for empowerment. Cave’s sculptures also include non-figurative assemblages, intricate accumulations of found objects that project out from the wall, and installations enveloping entire rooms. Cave lives and works in Chicago. 

Nekisha Durrett Nekisha Durrett employs the visual language of mass media to bring forward histories that objects, places, and words embody, but are not often celebrated. Her expansive practice includes public art, social practice, installation, painting, sculpture, and design. Durrett holds a BFA from The Cooper Union in New York City and an MFA from The University of Michigan School of Art and Design as a Horace H. Rackham Fellow. Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer is a conceptual artist best known for her text-based public art projects. Exploring how language is used both as a form of communication and as a means of concealment and control, Holzer has employed a variety of media throughout her career. Holzer attended the University of Chicago, received her BFA from Ohio University in 1972, and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1975. She currently lives and works between Brooklyn, NY, and Hoosick Falls, NY. Jules Julien 

Jules Julien is a French visual artist and art director whose drawings oscillate between photographic precision and hypersensitive softness. His art plays with the meaning of colors, images, and symbols to help explore the human condition and tell stories about the struggles and the joys that unite us all. Julien’s work has been featured in galleries, publications, and commercial partnerships across the globe, including collaborations with The New York Times, Apple, and Cartier. Julien lives in Amsterdam. Idris Khan 

Idris Khan OBE is a UK-born, London-based artist who has received international acclaim for his minimal, yet emotionally charged photographs, videos, paintings, and sculptures. Drawing on diverse cultural sources, including literature, history, art, music, and religion, Khan has developed a unique narrative involving densely layered imagery that inhabits the space between abstraction and figuration. Khan graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MFA and distinction for research in 2004, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy (D.Litt) from the University of Worcester in 2017, and in the same year Khan was appointed an OBE for services to Art in the Queen Elizabeth Birthday Honors List.

Aliza Nisenbaum 

Born in Mexico City, Aliza Nisenbaum is a Queens-based artist. She spent her formative years studying art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned both her BFA and MFA. Collaborating with distinct communities—sharing resources, skills, and ultimately, social representation—Nisenbaum's portraits are manifestations of exchanges with her subjects over time. The artist is best known for her paintings of immigrant communities, dancers, members of grassroots organizations, subway, airport, and health workers. Starting from the premise that paying attention, close observation, and patient listening are political acts, she uses observational painting as both medium and documentary process. Jack Pierson 

Jack Pierson is a New York-based photographer and artist who explores the emotional undercurrents of everyday life. In his well-known appropriation of vintage texts, Pierson references American motifs (roadside ephemera and small-town stores) and thus a lost era of cultural symbolism; his resulting word sculptures are imbued with both nostalgia and disillusionment. Pierson has a major solo exhibition, The Miami Years, at The Bass, Miami Beach, on view September 24, 2025, through August 16, 2026. Alison Saar 

A 2025 recipient for the David C. Driskell Prize, recognizing field-defining contributions to African American art, Alison Saar uses sculpture, installations, and prints to incorporate found objects, including rough-hewn wood, old tin ceiling panels, nails, shards of pottery, glass, and urban detritus. The resulting figures and objects become powerful totems exploring the issues of gender, race, heritage, and history. Kiki Smith 

Kiki Smith is a contemporary American artist whose work addresses themes of sex, birth, and regeneration. The multidisciplinary artist employs tattooing, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, textiles, and photography to engage with a range of themes that relate to the human condition. Smith is largely self-taught but was enrolled in the Hartford Art School for a brief period. She was born in Nuremberg, Germany, and is now based in New York. 

Marie Watt 

Marie Watt draws from history, biography, Iroquois protofeminism, and Indigenous principles in her work and addresses the intersection of the arc of history with her intimacy of memory. Blankets, one of her primary materials, are everyday objects that can carry extraordinary histories of use. In her tribe and other Indigenous communities, blankets are given away to honor those who are witnesses to important life events.

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Contact:

Emily Bittner, press@obama.org 

Kate Morais, opc@suttoncomms.com