Axis Lab Collaborations.

Axis Lab is a community engagement platform and arts organization based in Chicago’s Argyle/Uptown neighborhood. Working at the intersection of urban planning, architecture, theater, visual arts, environmental science, and healing justice, Axis Lab creates thoughtful programming that centers marginalized voices, address existing structural injustice, and paves a path toward a sustainable, just future.

I had the fortune of contributing work to Axis Lab on two separate occasions. In February, I was invited to participate in “First Morning: Paper Roots,” a pop-up interactive art and food stand held in celebration of Lunar New Year. With the help of three incredible friends and writers (Andres Regalado, Lindsey Weiss, and Tamara Bruha), I created a poster and zine packet full of personal essays that explore identity, spirituality, transitions, and new beginnings.

Several months later, Axis Lab launched “Food Not Cops,” a series of pop-up events that distributed free food, resources, and educational material on food justice, racial solidarity, and abolition to members of the Argyle/Uptown community. For their first installment, I designed a digital and printable factsheet exploring the extent of invested policing in Chicago Public Schools.