A Place To Grow Our Souls
Garfield Park Conservatory & Gardens is thrilled to announce the unveiling of a vibrant new mural titled A Place to Grow Our Souls. The mural, designed and painted by Chicago-based artist Chi Nwosu, is located in the hallway connecting the indoor Desert House to the outdoor City Garden. The mural’s final touches will be completed by February 13, 2025, and will be open to the public immediately thereafter.
In summer 2024, the Conservatory began collaborating with Good Things Vending, a Chicago-based vending machine that’s about spreading joy through unexpected surprises. The Conservatory is the seventh location site for Good Things Vending. The machine is filled with handmade crafts, local art, practical and nostalgic goodies, vintage finds and more – it’s like a treasure hunt each time you visit.
Chi Nwosu created the vibrant vending machine design and partnered with the Conservatory to create an adjoining wall mural titled “A Place to Grow Our Souls”.
Chi Nwosu, a Black, nonbinary, queer Nigerian artist, brings their unique vision to life in this piece, which weaves together elemental, political, and spiritual symbols. Their work focuses on marginalized experiences and invites viewers to explore a world rooted in love, curiosity, interconnectedness, and collective liberation. Chi’s artistic practice emphasizes the power of art to create transformative experiences and to envision new cultural images that challenge existing norms.
“A Place to Grow Our Souls” is inspired by the words of Grace Lee Boggs, who taught that “Art can help us envision the new cultural images we need to grow our souls.” This stunning mural reflects the beauty of nature, celebrating both human and non-human kin with symbolic representations of the lush landscapes found within Garfield Park Conservatory. The mural features vibrant depictions of echinacea, false sunflowers, pond lilies, bellflowers, eastern prickly pear, tropical plants, and nasturtiums—plants that thrive within the Conservatory’s gardens and echo the interconnectedness of life.
The central imagery includes two children symbolizing the nurturing of relationships with both the Earth and one another, while a monarch butterfly and bumblebee emphasize the delicate balance of life. The mural serves as both a celebration of nature and a call to action: to connect deeply with the Earth, to embrace our shared futures, and to imagine a world where all beings—human and beyond—are valued and cared for.
“A Place to Grow Our Souls” is not just a visual experience; it’s a powerful invitation to embrace imaginative courage and build a future where compassion, respect, and connection form the foundation of our shared world.
About Chi Nwosu
Chi Nwosu is an artist based in Garfield Park, Chicago. Their work focuses on the intersection of identity, social justice, and the human experience, and aims to engage viewers with themes of love, collective liberation, and ecological interconnectedness. Chi’s art seeks to build community and push boundaries, offering new ways of seeing and being.