MAKING A TROUBLESOME AND BEAUTIFUL HOME:

EVIDENCE, ARTIFACTS, HEIRLOOMS

with Tony Whitfield

Opening September 11, 2026 | 5-7pm

Beauty is like an antidote to the trouble, but also born as a result of it. Just generally thinking about the different ways that you look at trouble — it really is the result of being born in this world. You inherit both trouble and a desire to solve it, which is often a beautiful pursuit.

— Tony Whitfield

Presenting a diverse range of work from artist, designer, and 2023 Kresge Artist Fellow Tony Whitfield. Whitfield’s practice encompasses furniture design, drawing and illustration, and poetry - each a meditation on identity.

This exhibition is an intimate examination of Whitfield’s objects as artifacts and explorations of identity as well as a chronology of his career, which has focused on the health and history of people of color and diverse queer populations.

Born in Philadelphia, Tony Whitfield (b. 1954) is a multimedia artist, designer, and educator who, since 1976, has been an influential member of the public and nonprofit sectors in NYC’s arts community. Whitfield taught at Parsons School of Design and served in several roles, including chair of the product design department and associate dean for civic engagement and social justice issues. He has been professor emeritus at The New School University (NYC) since 2020. Having relocated to Detroit in 2020, Whitfield has worked with communities and organizations that underpin—and are supported by—his creative practice, which is focused on the health and history of people of color and diverse queer populations in urban environments, including the Ruth Ellis Center and the Alger Theater. In 2022, Whitfield’s artworks were displayed across five venues in the “Mighty Real Queer Detroit” exhibition. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he was an online curator and facilitator for Village.Berlin’s STRETCH Festivals. He has had solo shows in NYC, Lima, and Paris, as well as group exhibitions in galleries and museums in New York and internationally. In 2023, Whitfield received the Creator of Culture award from CultureSource.