Elke Richter: Protection (2020) – site specific performance (documentation), print on paper; 10 x 16 in.

Acts of Care: Nurturing the Present, Shaping the Future

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, July 12, 2025, 4–7 PM CST
CLOSING RECEPTION & WALKTHROUGH: Saturday, August 16, 2–4 PM CST

CHICAGO—Woman Made Gallery (WMG) proudly presents Acts of Care: Nurturing the Present, Shaping the Future. Juror, Kristen Carter included works in a variety of mediums by 41 artists for this exhibition.

Acts of care—cultivating, tending, nurturing, repairing—reflect the love, attention, struggle, and persistence involved in caring for ourselves, others, and our communities. This exhibition builds on a deep feminist art history rooted in the politics of care, drawing inspiration from movements like Wages for Housework, Maintenance Art, and Mother Art of the 1970s. Here, care is defined expansively, as a vital force that shapes our shared lives and imagines more equitable futures. It acknowledges care’s gendered, classed, racialized, and often invisible dimensions, and centers care work—reproductive, affective, domestic, ecological, and political—as essential labor worthy of reflection, recognition, and artistic expression.

Exhibition Events
The exhibition opens with a reception at Woman Made Gallery, 1332 S. Halsted St. in Chicago, on Saturday, July 12, from 4 to 7 p.m. Regular gallery hours are Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.

The Closing Reception includes an Artist Walkthrough on Saturday, August 16, from 2 to 4 p.m., offering a final opportunity to meet the participating artists in person. Events at WMG are free and open to the public.

Exhibiting Artists: ​Lynne Breitfeller, Anna Brody, Oona Bruss, Ingrid Butterer, Maddie Casagranda, Christeina Nena, Krista Cibis, Jeanne Ciravolo, Kimberleigh Collins-Peynaud, Samantha Degucz, Leslie Drennan, Jessica Gomez Ferrer, Veronica Hicks, Rana Huwais, Blond Jenny, Lauren Johnston, Khin, Yuliya Klochan, Beth Lemerand, Anna Lentz, Annamaria Eleanor Loia, Lindsay Lion Lord, Ashley Mangum, Ashley Martin, Susan Messer McBride, Laura Lee McCartney, Lorena Molina, Mackenna Morse, Abbey Peters, Felicia L. Reed, Astrid Reichenbach, Elke Richter, Robyn Rozelle, Ramya Shenoy, Vivian Smith, Victoria Smits, Phoebe Snyder, Kelly Sturhahn, Gwynneth VanLaven, Julie Waltz-Stalker, and Danielle C. Wyckoff.

About the Juror: Kristen Carter is an assistant professor of art history at Florida Southern College. She holds a PhD in modern and contemporary art from the University of British Columbia and a BA in art history from DePaul University. Her research concerns different modes of relationality, care, and institutional critique with an emphasis on artistic praxis and pedagogy in the 1960s and 1970s. She has presented and published on a range of topics, including performance, body art, and dance, histories of art and pedagogy in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, and the changing relationship between art and politics. Her research has been supported by fellowships from the University of British Columbia and the Getty Research Institute.

Committed to collaborative and inclusive pedagogy, Carter serves on the College Art Association’s Education Committee, advocating for undergraduate research and innovative teaching.

Acts of Care Press Release

SEE THE WORK

Gallery Hours: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 12–5 PM | WMG is closed between exhibitions.

Please Donate: http://womanmade.org/donate

Woman Made Gallery | http://womanmade.org | 312-738-0400 | general@womanmade.org
1332 S Halsted St., Chicago, IL 60607 | Street parking nearby

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Statement on Organizational Neutrality

As a registered Illinois 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Woman Made Gallery is committed to its mission of supporting women and non-binary artists through inclusive and equitable programming. To maintain trust, legal compliance, and alignment with its values, WMG does not endorse or oppose political candidates or parties and refrains from promoting personal ideological or religious beliefs. All exhibitions, partnerships, and communications are guided by the gallery’s mission, with a focus on artistic merit, diversity of perspective, and respectful dialogue. Staff, board members, and affiliates are expected to distinguish personal opinions from organizational positions and to use WMG’s platform solely in service of its mission.

Thank You

Woman Made Gallery is supported in part by grants from The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special EventsThe Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley FoundationThe Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Arts Midwest GIG Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from the Illinois Arts Council Agency;  the Puffin Foundation; a major anonymous donor; and the generosity of its members and contributors.