Arts & Entertainment
Newly Minted MacArthur Fellow Tonika Lewis Johnson on How Art Can Connect Communities
A South Side native now gets bragging rights to call herself a true genius.
Tonika Lewis Johnson is a social justice artist, photographer and author from Englewood whose work highlights systemic racism and disinvestment in Chicago. The multihyphenate is one of 22 fellows granted this year’s prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the “Genius Grant.”
“It’s been so amazing to be recognized in this way,” said Johnson. “People get to learn about me and my work, and my neighborhood.”
The MacArthur Fellows Program aims to identify “creative” individuals who have a “track record of excellence in a field of scholarship or area of practice” and “demonstrate the ability to impact society in significant and beneficial ways,” according to MacArthur Foundation’s website.
Fellows receive a “no-strings-attached” $800,000 award, which pays out in equal quarterly installments over five years. Johnson said the financial help will give her the freedom and stability to “dream bigger” and continue to build bold projects.
The artist is being recognized for her “Folded Map Project,” “Inequity for Sale” and “UnBlocked Englewood” projects, all of which spotlight the history of discriminatory, legal housing practices that barred Black Chicagoans from the dream of homeownership.
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Her latest project, “UnBlocked Englewood,” started in 2023 in partnership with the Chicago Bungalow Association. Combining art with community action, the project reclaims vacant lots and restores homes along the 6500 block of South Aberdeen in Englewood — a corridor greatly impacted by segregation.
Johnson affectionately calls the neighbors on that block “her adopted grandparents” as many of the residents are over 65 years old. As a community, they’ve been banding together for years to make repairs on each other’s homes. The project was “an effort to uplift what they’ve already been doing,” said Johnson.
The vacant lots, vacant buildings and deteriorating buildings are all living proof of predatory land sale contracts, Johnson explained in her film “UnBlocked Englewood Project: Documentary.” Through talking to the children, descendents of people who fell victim to the contracts, Johnson said it became even more apparent how Jim Crow-era history is still touching communities.
“It’s the reason people are told to not go to Englewood,” said Johnson. “It really aims to shine a light on all of the issues that people who have been invested and living in that neighborhood for decades are struggling and facing, and the support that they need.”
The work is ongoing for at least the next three years.
Johnson plans to pour into her neighborhood and make it more of an arts and culture hub through creating investments, property and structures that can outlive her.
“These people are an amazing well of wisdom and the future us,” she said. “We’re going to age and hopefully we’ll age in place just like them.”
