Trade Windings: De-Lineating the American Tropics

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is proud to present Trade Windings: De-Lineating the American Tropics, an exhibition that investigates the history, impact, and legacy of colonial trade routes from the 15th and 16th centuries. On view from May 18 through August 24, 2024, the exhibition challenges the so-called age of exploration and discovery by revealing the displacement, enslavement, and extraction that occurred during this time of imperial prosperity—realities that continue to haunt the world today.

Drawn primarily from the MCA Collection, Trade Windings features artworks by Tania Bruguera, Rafael Ferrer, Ana Mendieta, Emilio Rojas, Juana Valdés, and Carrie Mae Weems, among others, who incorporate or reference maps and colonial products, such as coffee, gunpowder, and cotton, in their works. By outlining the historical entanglements of the American tropics, the exhibition exposes the ways in which the structural and material dimensions of coloniality permeate our daily lives.

The exhibition is curated by Cecilia González Godino, Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellow. It is presented in the McCormick Tribune Gallery on the museum’s second floor.

The Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellowship was established by members of the Susman family in honor of Marjorie Susman.