Julie Mehretu to Create Stained Glass for Obama Presidential Center

Julie Mehretu has been commissioned to create a large-scale stained glass installation titled "Uprising of the Sun" for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The 25-meter colored glass window will be installed on the north side of the museum building, currently under construction in Jackson Park. This is Mehretu's first work in glass, produced in collaboration with Franz Mayer Studio in Munich. The translucent surface will project key moments of African American history, including the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, speeches by John Lewis and Barack Obama, and artistic references to Robert S. Duncanson and Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series. The work is designed to be viewed both from outside as a colorful mural against the white building and from inside as a filter for the surrounding landscape. In a video conversation, former President Barack Obama interviewed Mehretu about inclusion, Chicago's history, and the artistic project. Mehretu expressed gratitude to the Obamas for creating space for an Ethiopian child to realize such a work in Chicago, a city crucial to her development as a young artist. Obama praised the installation as one of the most important aspects of the Center and an iconic contribution to the South Side and Chicago. Mehretu cited the influence of Afewerk Tekle's stained glass at Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, which she saw as a child.