The exhibit "Patric McCoy: Take My Picture"—about 1980s Black gay Chicago—will run April 14-July 15 at Wrightwood 659, 659 W. Wrightwood Ave.

"Take My Picture" features a selection of approximately 50 black-and-white and color photographs from this decade, by the end of which thousands would die of HIV/AIDS, including many of McCoy's friends, lovers and subjects.

According to Wrightwood's website, the exhibition is curated by artist/educator Juarez Hawkins, who noted, "McCoy and his camera fulfilled an unspoken need for Black men to be seen. Seen by someone who did not objectify them as 'other,' but an insider who allowed them, paraphrasing Langston Hughes, to be their 'beautiful Black selves.'"

McCoy is a retired environmental scientist in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) Regional Office in Chicago. He has been collecting contemporary African-American art for 50 years and has a collection of more than 1,300 pieces of fine art—of which 90% are produced by Chicago artists. In 2003, he co-founded Diasporal Rhythms, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 arts organization that promotes the collection by individuals and institutions of art from the African diaspora.

This exhibition is presented by Alphawood Exhibitions at Wrightwood 659.

See Website Link Here .

—Andrew Davis