Lot #18: Tonika Lewis-Johnson

Tonika Lewis-Johnson

Freedom, 2016

Archival inkjet print

16 x 24 inches

Courtesy of the artist

Estimated value: $1,000

Starting bid: $500

Buy it now: $1,250

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*If you are not attending DARKROOM and would like to place a bid, please contact Jaclyn Silverman jsilverman@colum.edu and Patrick Thornton pthornton@colum.edu to add your bid to our ballot.

*Buy it now: All auction items have buy-it-now options and can be purchased directly through this website.

Tonika Lewis-Johnson (American, b. 1979)

Tonika Lewis-Johnson is a photographer, social justice artist, and life-long resident of Chicago’s South Side neighborhood of Englewood. Freedom (2016) was originally featured in her 2017 exhibition Everyday Englewood. It captures a quintessential moment of Black boyhood in Chicago—a group of kids riding bikes, weaving through the neighborhood, their movement and joy embodying the spirit of freedom. For generations, biking has been a cultural summertime staple for Black boys in Chicago as ritual of independence, a rite of passage, and a source of pride. This scene, so familiar in neighborhoods like Englewood, disrupts the narrow narratives often projected onto Black communities. It is not about struggle or survival, but about joy, connection, and the everyday beauty of Black life.

Tonika Lewis-Johnson is the founder of the Folded Map Project and co-founder of Englewood Arts Collective and Resident Association of Greater Englewood. She received her BA in Journalism and Photography from Columbia College Chicago (2003) and MBA from National-Louis University (2005). Her work has been exhibited by Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago; RootWork Gallery, Chicago; Garfield Park Arts Center, Indianapolis; and various others. She is 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellow and co-author of Don’t Go: Stories of Segregation and How to Disrupt It.