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Poet of page and stage, Cin Salach is an Illinois Arts Council recipient, four-time Ragdale fellow, and Emmy nominee for her narration of the PBS documentary From Schoolboy to Showgirl. She has collaborated across disciplines for over 30 years and served as inaugural Poet Laureate of Covenant Farm. She leads women’s writing circles and creates poetry experiences for people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
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Presence and Absence: The Space Between July 5 - August 2, 2026
Introduction: My parents died more than twenty years ago, yet they remain present in my life. My father’s love of language surfaces when I search for the right word; my mother’s fierce commitment to social justice lives on in my choices and values. For me, presence and absence exist side by side, shaping memory, identity, and how loss continues within us.
Exhibition Statement: Presence and Absence explores death as both disappearance and endurance. Fragile materials such as earth and water are paired with metal and stone, reflecting the tension between impermanence and our desire to hold on. Through sculpture, painting, performance, and participatory installation, the exhibition invites reflection on loss, memory, and connection. It asks: what legacy do we leave in the lives we touch, and how do we remain present even in our absence?
Community Project: Remember Me
Visitors are invited to write or draw reflections on pre-cut footprints, considering how we wish to be remembered. These footprints will be assembled into a toran—a South Asian entryway hanging symbolizing blessing and memory—creating an evolving collaborative artwork shaped by the community.
Introduction: My parents died more than twenty years ago, yet they remain present in my life. My father’s love of language surfaces when I search for the right word; my mother’s fierce commitment to social justice lives on in my choices and values. For me, presence and absence exist side by side, shaping memory, identity, and how loss continues within us.
Exhibition Statement: Presence and Absence explores death as both disappearance and endurance. Fragile materials such as earth and water are paired with metal and stone, reflecting the tension between impermanence and our desire to hold on. Through sculpture, painting, performance, and participatory installation, the exhibition invites reflection on loss, memory, and connection. It asks: what legacy do we leave in the lives we touch, and how do we remain present even in our absence?
Community Project: Remember Me
Visitors are invited to write or draw reflections on pre-cut footprints, considering how we wish to be remembered. These footprints will be assembled into a toran—a South Asian entryway hanging symbolizing blessing and memory—creating an evolving collaborative artwork shaped by the community.
Call For Art
Presence and Absence: The Space Between explores the dual reality of death: the physical disappearance of those we love and the lasting emotional, spiritual, and cultural imprints they leave behind. The exhibition invites artists to consider absence not as emptiness, but as a charged space: one shaped by trace, residue, silence, and transformation.
Please go this link to apply : https://forms.gle/B5qS9nqNt6Jm6Ye89
Presence and Absence: The Space Between explores the dual reality of death: the physical disappearance of those we love and the lasting emotional, spiritual, and cultural imprints they leave behind. The exhibition invites artists to consider absence not as emptiness, but as a charged space: one shaped by trace, residue, silence, and transformation.
Please go this link to apply : https://forms.gle/B5qS9nqNt6Jm6Ye89
BeLonging. Solo Show at the Highland Park Center March 3, 2023
BeLonging. The Work of Indira Freitas Johnson explores the expansive and multifaceted issue of “Belonging” that runs through race, religion, ethnicity, philosophy, and sexual orientation.
The word ‘Belonging’ is a heavy word for me, fraught with contradictions and dichotomies. Today, questions of home, homeland and displacement come up in multiple ways on the global terrain.
My work in this show explores concepts of self and belonging and represents among other things attachment, rejection, regeneration, and the landscape of the everyday. The works reinforce the idea that none of us have singular identities belonging simultaneously in different geographies and cultures.
Special thanks to Curator Caren Rudman for her immeasurable help and support. And to thee Illinois Arts Council for funding a catalog of this exhibition.
BeLonging. The Work of Indira Freitas Johnson explores the expansive and multifaceted issue of “Belonging” that runs through race, religion, ethnicity, philosophy, and sexual orientation.
The word ‘Belonging’ is a heavy word for me, fraught with contradictions and dichotomies. Today, questions of home, homeland and displacement come up in multiple ways on the global terrain.
My work in this show explores concepts of self and belonging and represents among other things attachment, rejection, regeneration, and the landscape of the everyday. The works reinforce the idea that none of us have singular identities belonging simultaneously in different geographies and cultures.
Special thanks to Curator Caren Rudman for her immeasurable help and support. And to thee Illinois Arts Council for funding a catalog of this exhibition.
Art Exhibit: Visible / Invisible February 4 - March 18, 2022
Multi-disciplinary works are on display from a wide range of artists, who were asked to consider what kinds of violence are made visible and gain widespread public attention and what is excluded and remains invisible. From sculpture to painting to audio submissions, the diversity of art artists and mediums are impactful in the way they address this difficult topic, pervasive in our culture. More than 50 artists are participating, see full list below, and we invite you to see this event in person, February 4 - March 18, 2022 @ Noyes Cultural Arts Center,
Second Floor Gallery, 927 Noyes St.
This exhibit and programs are sponsored in part by a grant made available by the Evanston Arts Council.
How silence is a tool of violence allowing it to blossom and grow.
Juried Exhibit Curated by Indira Johnson, Fran Joy and Lisa Degliantoni
@ Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Second Floor Gallery
Juried Exhibit Curated by Indira Johnson, Fran Joy and Lisa Degliantoni
@ Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Second Floor Gallery