Sapphire Queens in Wonderland is an exhibition that features the work of award-winning artist, Rhonda Gray. The show will be open to the public from March 24th-April 28th at the Chicago Center of Art and Technology. The exhibition includes a collection of vibrant mixed media portrait paintings and sculptures embodying women of African descent holding space for wonderment, self- liberation, cultural remembrance, and world making possibilities. This show reorients negative stereotypes that have long plagued black women and includes creative portraits of icons such as Michelle Obama, Nina Simone, and Harriet Tubman. Through the use of oil and acrylic paint, collage, shiny embellishments, natural materials, African diasporic symbolism, and non-conventional substrates, these portraits vividly capture the spirit women unapologetically owning their unique identity, mind, beauty, power, and peace.

Rhonda Gray has been a professional artist since 2002. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally and can be found in collections globally. In 2018, her paintings and writings were published in the academic book, Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls. Her work can be seen in the featured film, “Southside With You,” which chronicles Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date.

If you’d like more information about this exhibition, or to schedule a gallery tour, please contact Rhonda Gray Studios at 773-609-0113.