3 Days, 42 miles, Chicago to Gary Walk with the Mobile Speakers’ Podium for Citizens and Noncitizens.
2018 iteration, new wheels and pull bars added.
Collaboration with artist Regin Igloria. Together we pulled the Mobile Speakers Podium on foot from Chicago to Gary, IN, to draw attention to the forced transport of people through Gary International Airport, the deportation hub for the Midwest. The durational performance invited conversations with passersby and speakouts along the way, including poet Bella Bahhs at North River Commission Festival, Logan Lu at Cook County Jail, Concerned Citizens of Hobart, IN at the Sidecar Gallery in Hammond. Students from the Steel City Academy in Gary met us at the airport, took over the Speakers Podium, and hosted speak-out events at their school.
A zine created to hand out to passersby maps and explains the Chicago to Gary Walk.
Thanks to David Pohlad, Lori Waxman, North Branch Projects, Carol Anne Garner, Sam Love, Steel City Academy, Mike Kaysen, Sandy O’Brien, The Comfort Station, Hyde Park Art Center, and especially Northwest Indiana Resist for their ongoing actions to protest the weekly deportations at Gary International Airport.
A video of moments from the Chicago to Gary Walk will be added to this page soon.