Antonia Contro

Antonia Contro is a visual artist based in Chicago. Her work ranges from intimate drawings and mixed media pieces to site-specific installations and concept-based projects that engage artists from a variety of disciplines. For over two decades, Contro served as the director of Marwen, a non-profit organization that educates and inspires young people from under-resourced communities and schools in Chicago through free visual art programs. Contro grounds her creative practice in research and exchange, fostering continuous learning through collaboration. 

Contro’s exhibitions and multidisciplinary projects include Theorem, a visual and sonic installation with poet Elizabeth Bradfield at the Farnsworth House gallery; Something To Write Home About, with Spektral Quartet and composer Samuel Adams for Harris Theater; Correspondence, with violinist Clara Lyon and cellist Hannah Collins; Theorem, a visual and literary book with Elizabeth Bradfield; Light Itself, with Spektral Quartet; Tempus Fugit, American Philosophical Society Museum; Ex Libris, Chicago Cultural Center; the Italian Pavilion, 54^th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale; Centennial Celebration: New Acquisitions 2001 – 2011, New York Public Library; Closed/Open, Newberry Library; and Descry, Museum of Contemporary Photography. 

Contro’s art is in museum, library, and private collections, including Art Institute of Chicago, Davis Museum, Delaware Art Museum, Hammer Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Menil Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography, and New York Public Library. She has been awarded a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship, an Illinois Arts Council fellowship, and a doctorate in humanities honoris causa from Lewis University.

Website: www.antoniacontro.com