Julie Mehretu to create facade work for Obama Presidential Center.
Rendering of Julie Mehretu’s Uprising of the Sun at the Obama Foundation Museum building. Courtesy of Lamar Johnson Collaborative and Julie Mehretu Studio.
Julie Mehretu, the celebrated Ethiopian American painter, has been commissioned to create a new installation for the planned Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. This work, titled Uprising of the Sun, will adorn the north facade of the Center’s museum building. The campus, which first broke ground in 2021, is scheduled to open in spring 2026.
“Julie learned at a young age how access to public space can help shape and affect people's lives,” said President Barack Obama. “For her to be a part of what we hope will be a transformative institution that will be unique in how it brings so many different people, ideas, and resources together is a wonderful opportunity for us.”
View of construction at the site of the future Obama Presidential Center, 2024. Courtesy of the Obama Foundation.
Uprising of the Sun spans 83 feet by 25 feet and features 35 painted glass panels. This installation is directly inspired by Obama’s speech in 2015 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma marches in Alabama—a key moment in the civil rights movement. In fact, Mehretu initially started this work with an image of Obama and the late U.S. representative John Lewis crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma during the anniversary in 2015. She manipulated this image using various digital mapping and design tools while adding elements from Robert Seldon Duncanson’s Land of the Lotus Eaters (1861) and Jacob Lawrence’s screenprint Confrontation on the Bridge (1975). Another inspiration is Ethiopian artist Afewerk Tekle’s giant stained-glass window in Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, where the artist was born.
Working alongside Franz Mayer Studio, Mehretu employed various techniques, such as hand painting, freehand airbrushing, ceramic melting colors, and tape masking, to create this massive abstract glasswork. This is the artist’s first work in this medium.
View of construction at the site of the future Obama Presidential Center, 2024. Courtesy of the Obama Foundation.
“This work is layered with history, and I’m eager to see how people will connect with it—whether you’re a grandparent from the South Side of Chicago or a kid from Addis Ababa,” said Mehretu. “I hope it serves as an invitation to every visitor that they are welcome to be a part of the Center’s mission to make an impact and work towards a better future.”
When the 19.3-acre campus of the Obama Presidential Center opens in Jackson Park, it will feature more than 20 original artworks, both indoors and outdoors. These pieces will be accessible to the public at no cost, fostering a space of cultural enrichment and education. This is the third commission announced by the Obama Foundation. Previously, the organization announced sculptures by Richard Hunt and Maya Lin.
“President and Mrs. Obama believe that art is an essential part of inspiring the next generation of leaders,” said Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett. “In line with our mission, the Obama Presidential Center will feature arts education programs and spaces for visual art, theater, and dance, along with talks, performances, and workshops.”
