Humboldt Park
1440 N. Humboldt Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60622
Open 6:00 am-11:00 pm
Installations
✳︎
Descriptions
✳︎
How to Play
✳︎
Installations ✳︎ Descriptions ✳︎ How to Play ✳︎
Ode to Clarendon Park - Fight Da Power
In ‘98 Kuumba Lynx became a Chicago Park District Arts Partner @ Clarendon Park in Uptown. For years, the upstairs was essentially an underutilized boxing ring that KL transformed into a Hip Hop stage. Inspired by the Open Mics, Breaking & Freestyle sessions that often took place inside the boxing ring, this installation plays with intersectionality, a term first coined in 1989 by American civil rights activist & scholar of critical race theory, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw. It is the study of overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination. Step into the boxing ring to better understand intersectionality. FIGHT DA POWER encourages us to explore different aspects of our social identities in order to grow collectively, preparing us to FIGHT DA POWERS DAT BE!
How to Play:
Round 1: Choose 3-5 sets of mini boxing gloves that list identities you connect to (ex. citizenship status, race, religion, gender, etc.). Round 2: Step into the ring. Put on your robe, choose a corner & crate for writing your lyrics. Practice your battle rhymes before stepping to the mic. Round 3: Ding the bell.
By Kuumba Lynx
By Jacinda BullieWith a Prayer Written In
In all that we do, think & say, there is intention, including the ways we adorn ourselves. “With a Prayer Written in” celebrates our adornment. From knuckle ring to bamboo earring, we invite you to create your own nameplate with a poetic twist. This installation encourages you to examine the ritual and relationship of adornment, social statements, creative aesthetics and prayer. Look up, out, down and in each direction as you immerse yourself in this larger than life jewelry box. Rays of the prophetic verse “Creator is beautiful and loves beauty” will crown you as you immerse yourself. Beautification of one's person and safeguarding the honor of others. From sky to earth the Doorknocka is a revered piece. Whether a $1.99 gold plated metal pyramid pair fresh out a beauty supply somewhere in Chicago, or a heart shaped beaded up rendition, declaring “Land Back” on a rez in Oklahoma, the Doorknocka is more than an accessory . There are offerings in the triangle dangle, sacred scripture in neatly centered nameplate messaging. A pair of Bamboo Door Knockers, the Fight the Power knuckle ring, a God medallion, and a set of Ayat bangles complete this installation. Each an affirmation, a call in, a declaration, a prayer for us to do beautiful things. What is your prayer? What will you write in?
How to Play:
This is Magnetic poetry making. You can make a mono Dikr poem nameplate by choosing up to 5 gold & black magnetic letters that will make one word. Place the magnetic letters on the strip inside the bamboo earring or on the strip of the Knuckle.
Cootie Catchers Creating
: Using selected excerpts from various poems written by KL slam team poets, we put a fun twist on Fortune Teller, a childhood favorite
How to play: Choose from one of the three life size Cootie Catchers and play w/ a friend. If inspired, grab a journal and write a poem! Or create a cootie catcher. Let the lyrics & lines of your favorite poem or song inspire the content of the Cootie Catcher !
By: Hip Hop 101 Micha, Cal, Breslin, Jaya, class utilized poems written by former KL participants including Jahliegh, Gina, Lala, KeKe, Sejahari, Jahari, Victor, Darius, Jacquese, Aliyah, Ronnie, Jacinda, Jaquanda
Jaquanda Saulter & Jacinda Bullie w/ supported fabrication by D. Poland. Black Boy Safe
Where All black everything is beautiful and a hint of gold reminds us of our royalty, we can rest knowing Black Boy Safe.
How to play:
Step inside the blow up golden safe and let the words fly. Grab 5-7 pieces of flying poetry from inside the VERSE SAFE 4 SAFE VERSE poetry blowing machine. Then use your 5-7 lines of found poetry to make a new poem. Arrange then glue the found lines any way you'd like on the provided poster boards. You can take you Found Poem with you but be sure to take a flic, post & tag @kuumbalynx use #poetrymakingplayground
By Kuumba Lynx w/ supported fabrication by D. Poland, Chuck Bledsoe & Issa RiveraBanned and Burned
KL poets wrote a piece entitled Arizona Poltricks inspired by the inhumane practices of Arizona’s school system. The poem explored microaggressions, the erasure of multicultural education, the watering down of diversity and equity policies, and national book bans and challenges. Book censorship is still happening! Between July 2021 and June 2023 over 5,800 instances of school book bans in 41 states have been recorded.
How to Play:
Read pieces of the original poem written and then using the oversized books and or the original books representing just a few of the many currently censored / challenged book titles, arrange the titles on to create a gigantic BOOK BIND poem. Take a photo next to it and post with the hashtag #bannedbooks