AfroDisco Social Hour & Blanc Gallery

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⏵ VIDEO

AfroDisco Social Hour × Blanc Gallery
This Heavenly Body

Featuring the photography and installation work of award-winning imagist Seed Lynn, this multimedia exhibition honors and celebrates the dynamism of Black identities and the unyielding spirit of Black American culture. This Heavenly Body is a meditation on the cultural significance of roller skating and roller skating rinks within Black American life across the US Midwest.

AUGUST 24

**AfroDisco Social Hour Presents SPOTLIGHT (Closing Reception of This Heavenly Body)**

4445 S. Martin Luther King Dr

3-8pm CDT

Featuring the photography and installation work of award-winning imagist Seed Lynn, and organized by AfroDisco Social Hour co-founders Nnaemeka Ekwelum and Alexandria Eregbu, This Heavenly Body explores a political response to nationwide closures of social spaces that promote and facilitate Black gathering and community, like roller-skating rinks, bowling alleys and amusement parks.

- Directions

"StarCrawler" © Seed Lynn

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Presented at Blanc Gallery in the heart of Chicago’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood, this highly-anticipated exhibition opens to the public on July 12, 2024 and runs until August 24, 2024, featuring programs and events in partnership with Next Stop: Chicago. Organized and led by independent curators Nnaemeka Ekwelum and Alexandria Eregbu–co-founders of AfroDisco Social Hour–This Heavenly Body is a political response to the nationwide closures of roller skating rinks, bowling alleys, amusement parks, and other social spaces that promote and facilitate Black gathering and community building.

"Blue Peoples" © Seed Lynn

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PROJECT GOALS

Honor, celebrate, and amplify the historical, cultural, and political significance of Black roller skating rinks (and roller skating culture) across the US Midwest
Showcase the brilliant photography and installation work of imagist Seed Lynn who has been photographing Black roller skating rinks across the US Midwest since 2018
Promote the existence of “third spaces” that center Black identities and cultural activities such as art galleries, social clubs, restaurants, and other hospitality venues
Support Blanc Gallery’s commitment to activating communal spaces for Black gathering and creativity on Chicago’s south side
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MISSION STATEMENT

AfroDisco Social Hour

AfroDisco Social Hour is a series of thoughtfully-curated events and programs that reimagine how the intimacy of social spaces and hospitality venues can be used to cultivate creativity, collaborative friendship, and community building amongst people of diverse cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, sexual preferences, and other notable markers of difference. Our primary mission is to bridge Chicago’s Black diaspora through art, music, fashion, and culinary dining experiences.

Blanc Gallery

Founded and led by Cliff Rome and Eileen Rhodes, Blanc Gallery and Parkway Social Chicago have been working to preserve and advance Bronzeville’s status as a hub for Black creativity. Since 2000, the Parkway Social team has renovated and opened brick and mortar spaces in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago’s south side, activating social spaces that reveal and celebrate a diverse representation of Black life in the city.

PROJECT LEADERSHIP

Alexandria Eregbu

Co-Curator/Director of Music & Partnerships,
AfroDisco Social Hour

Nnaemeka Ekwelum

Co-Curator/Director of Art & Engagement,
AfroDisco Social Hour

AfroDisco Social Hour × Blanc GalleryThis Heavenly Body