Bessie Green-Field Warshawsky Gallery and Green-Field Gallery

Out in Chicago

Now Open through March 26, 2012

From its earliest days, Chicago has served as a dynamic crossroads of people and cultures—all who came to Chicago seeking a better life and creating new communities. Out in Chicago explores the stories of a group of Chicagoans who have been here since the city’s beginnings but whose lives have often been lived in the shadows. 

For more than 150 years, a complex community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Chicagoans has been at turns surviving, struggling, and thriving, often on the edge of mainstream awareness.  In the nineteenth century, the forces that made Chicago a national metropolitan center also brought diverse LGBT people to the heartland and fostered their development as a community.

"Chicago’s LGBT history is not just a story about one group of people in one neighborhood. It’s a history that has happened throughout the city and over time."

 — Jill Austin, co-curator

Out in Chicago spans diverse stories and perspectives and explores issues such as language, gender expression, formation of identity, the role of LGBT people in politics and culture, and family relationships. It balances private stories with public perspectives in relation to gender, community, and identity  and spotlights the inspiring and charged heritage of this diverse Chicago community, whose history truly belongs to all of us.

Multimedia

 
Exhibition Highlights

Preview selected pieces from the exhibition.

> View a Flickr gallery of highlights from Out in Chicago

Northern Trust is the lead corporate sponsor for the Out in Chicago exhibition. Generous support for the entire Out at CHM project is provided by The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust. Additional support is provided by The Chicago Community Trust, Pauls Foundation, Sara Lee Foundation, UBS, Polk Bros. Foundation, and The Goodworks Fund.