In the Hyde Park Art Center 2019 solo exhibition Dark Matter: Celestial Objects as Messengers of Love in These Troubled Times, artist and designer Folayemi (Fo) Wilson presents slip-cast vessels as cosmic orbs, with other media to create a dynamic environment as a celestial Afrofuturist landscape. Soundscapes, NASA video and the orbs landing from space from a shotgun house-like structure that appears to have come from another realm, embodies the artist’s desire to infuse love and restore dignity to a culture that is troubled with unfortunate manifestations of fear, hate, greed, shame, and a disregard for others. The project, is to produce a unique 12” LP catalogue that will document the exhibition and a live performance as a closing event and response to the work by visual artist and poet Krista Franklin and musician Ben LaMar Gay. The LP catalogue will be produced as a limited edition artist book and will include images of the exhibition and writings by the artist and others.

Folayemi (Fo) Wilson is an artist/designer, educator, independent curator, and writer. She is a cofounder of blkHaUS studios, a socially-focused design studio based in Chicago with designer Norman Teague. Her art practice crosses interdisciplinary boundaries between the visual arts, sonic media, a regard for the handmade. She earned a MFA in Furniture Design with a concentration in Art History, Theory and Criticism from RISD. Wilson has been a grant recipient of Creative Time, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Propeller Fund. She was awarded residencies or fellowships at ACRE, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Djerassi Resident Artist program, Kohler Arts/Industry program, Haystack, the MacDowell Colony, and Purchase College. She was honored as a 3Arts awardee in 2015 and her work is included in the collection of the Cooper Hewitt National Museum of Design. She is trustee of the American Craft Council.