A panel discussion about a photography exhibit that highlights the work of 19 Austin and Oak Park residents has been postponed.
The panel about the “Everyday Activists” exhibit was to be held Jan. 5 at Austin’s library branch, 5615 W. Race Ave., but had to be postponed because the library has closed due to the number of staff who have tested positive for COVID.
The exhibit will stay up in the library at least to the end of January, and possibly longer, and that panel and reception will be rescheduled when the library reopens and the rising rate of COVID cases decreases, said Susan Stall, president of the nonprofit Arbor West Neighbors and one of the exhibit creators.
The exhibit, which opened in December, was featured last May at the Oak Park Art League.
The aim of the portraits and accompanying interviews is to show the positive change community members are making. Subjects include Liz Abunaw, food justice advocate and owner of Forty Acres Fresh Market; Leroy Duncan, a community activist who’s lived in Austin for decades; artist Vanessa Stokes; and Jeremy Mercado of BUILD.
Stall said it was always the intent to foreground activists from both communities, and she pointed to what West Side minister Rev. Ira Acree has said about Oak Park and Austin.
“Tear down that invisible wall on Austin Boulevard and replace it with a bridge,” said Acree, pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church.