I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.
—Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam,” 1967
In April 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “Beyond Vietnam” speech, condemning the war in Vietnam and calling for a radical reordering of US political and moral life. Days later, Vietnam veterans marched with Dr. King to the United Nations under the banner of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, making visible a powerful truth: those who have been ordered to fight a war can become central figures in the struggle to end it.
Creative Rebellion builds on this legacy of refusal by tracing expressions of war resistance across Chicago and beyond. Anchored in the city’s histories of antiwar organizing, abolitionist struggle, immigrant justice, and radical public culture, the exhibition positions Chicago not as a backdrop but as an active site in the international struggle for peace and justice. Archival materials from the legendary Chicago antiwar veteran organizer Barry Romo appear alongside contemporary artworks—from quilts and soft sculptures to family videos, prints, and public art—that reveal how artists craft solidarity, build counter-memory, and defy colonial power.
The exhibition understands rebellion not only as protest, but also as making: creating images, solidarities, counter-archives, kinship networks, public memory, and collective futures. Across diverse geographies and political histories, the featured artists expose the intimate and planetary consequences of war while crafting forms of resistance that are tender, insurgent, and imaginative. Their works insist that art can interrupt the spectacle of militarism, honor the lives it renders disposable, and summon publics capable of acting otherwise.
Featuring artists Ismail Abu Hatab, Jamiah Calvin, June Carpenter (Osage/Shawnee), Cog•nate Collective, Jose deVera, Sabba Elahi, William Estrada, Floating Museum, Chitra Ganesh, Jose Garza, Leon Golub, John Hitchcock (Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, Comanche, and Northern European), Emily Jacir, Ruth Tomoe Leinani Kaneko (Kanaka Wahine), Josh MacPhee, Hương Ngô, Amanda Raquel Dorval (Nuyorican-Dominican), Charlie Reynolds, Gregory Rick, Nancy Spero, chip thomas, Hồng-Ân Trương, and archival materials from Vietnam Veterans Against the War and the Albert Goodman Collection.