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When French surrealist, Renee Magritte famously wrote, “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”) beneath the image of a pipe in 1929, he effectively connected words and images, creating a dialogue about the true ‘meaning’ of words in and about art that continues to this day.

In 2021. the constant barrage of words and images though social media, billboards, commercials, etc., forces us to question what we see, hear, and read. Words are carelessly ‘vomited’ at us without regard for their potential effect or truthfulness, often artlessly and without skill.

In the best of circumstances, contemporary art reflects life’s urgent societal issues while visual artists employ words/text with wordplay, polemics, meta-messaging, subverted advertising (Warhol, Banksy), appropriation, and by combining their images with poetry, music and/or video. The artist, therefore, is in a position to reinterpret words and text, to craft a message, to communicate ideas, ideals, social values and, hopefully, to inspire or provoke.

With ‘Words Matter’, The Art Center Highland Park is searching for art that exists in the intersection between visual art and language. A wide interpretation of the theme may be accepted by our guest juror, Makeba Kedem-DuBose, as we attempt to collect ideas and proposals that will allow us to stage a ‘conversation about Words’.

“What do you read, my lord?”

“Words, words, words.”

Hamlet, Act II, Scene II

Guest Juror/ Featured Artist- Makeba Kedem-DuBose: Chicago native, Makeba Kedem-DuBose, is a multi-published, multidisciplinary artist, curator, arts educator, Creative Director, and former gallerist.  She studied interior design at Harrington College of Design, and completed a Visual Arts Certification Program in Curatorial Practices at the University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies at Hyde Park Art Center in 2017. She is a career artist practicing throughout greater Chicagoland, and has exhibited both nationally and internationally for over 30 years.  Kedem-DuBose was recently nominated for the prestigious 3Arts Award, to be announced in November of 2021.