OH Art Foundation Presents

We Built This: Making Through Migration / CALL FOR ARTISTS

curated by Vivian Torres

Juried by Vivian Torres, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Carina Yepez, and InJung Oh

Call for Artists

We Built This : Making Through Migration 

The OH Art Foundation presents artist open-call to submit works for We Built This: Making Through Migration. The Exhibition features the artwork by artist Kira Dominguez Hultgren, a complimentary installation of work by Carina Yepez, and artists selected through an open call as curated by NIAD Art Center’s Vivian Torres, on view at the OH Art Foundation, 2nd floor of the Zhou B Art Center. Open-call and group exhibition is sponsor by Zhou B Art Center, DCASE, Illinois art council, Chicago community trust, Asian Giving Circle, and Center for Craft

About the Exhibition

The OH Art Foundation invites Chicago-based artists to submit wall-mounted artworks to be on view at the OH Art Foundation, on the 2nd floor of the Zhou B Art Center in Bridgeport, Chicago, from July 18-September 12, 2025. 

We Built This: Making Through Migration begs the question: How do emerging artists make work about cultural, ethnic, racial, gendered, and other demographic identities in the U.S. when it feels like the history of their identity is largely missing from U.S. cultural institutions? What gets lost, what gets gained when an artist must create their own history and context for their work to be understood? This exhibition aims to represent art emanating from intersectional identities to further incorporate their stories into the dominant narrative of the United States.

This call for art is open to any Chicago-based artist who has ever wrestled with questions of what it means to create across identities: cross-cultural, cross-gender, cross-racial, cross-genres. Work that broadly addresses issues of migration, race, gender, outsider art, folk art, craft, and (mis)belonging are welcome. 

This exhibition will be celebrated at two of Zhou B Art center’s Third Friday opening; community events on July 18 and the second major public program of the national project, “What Can Become of Us?” on August 15.

August 15 is the opening event for So, I told her I was half-Indian by Kira Dominguez Hultgren, the second major commissioned artwork for “What Can Become of Us?,” and will include an artist talk with Dominguez Hultgren followed by a panel of creatives, scholars, and local community members who will discuss how migrant communities stitch together our ideas of American life. A hosted reception will conclude the program, and feature informal art talks by select open call artists, plus free food, drink, and live music. It will take place at Zhou B Art Center in partnership with Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS), Zócalo Public Square, Zhou B Art Center and OH Art Foundation. 

About “What Can Become of Us?”

We Built This: Making Through Migration is inspired by and developed around “What Can Become of Us?,” a collaboration between the Stanford Institute for Advancing Just Societies (IAJS) and Zócalo Public Square envisioning new perspectives on migration, America’s diverse communities, and how people come together across differences. The year-long series activates four regions of the United States and highlights newly commissioned works of art—visual, textile, and dance—to inspire a national conversation through public programs and essays, and to work toward a better future.

Submission Guidelines:

• Artwork must be smaller than 48" width x 84" height 
• Wall-mounted works only (No sculptures)
• Open to Chicago based artists living/working 
• Eligibility: Open to all 18 years and older Chicago based artists living/working 
• Submission Fee: $25 for up to 2 artworks. 

Selected works will be arranged as a collective installation, reinforcing the exhibition’s theme of transformation through art.