Regina Agu: Shore/Lines

Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (MoCP) presents Regina Agu: Shore/Lines from January 23, 2024–May 18, 2024. Drawing on methods of field work and landscape photography, Agu examines waterways and natural environments as defining sites of Black life and belonging. This exhibition presents an original commission, large-scale panoramic installation at the MoCP as part of an exploration of placemaking and community memory—tracing sites and legacies of historical Black North American migration through the medium and expansive tradition of the panoramic form. This Joyce Foundation Award (2023) special project and collaboration additionally connects the landscapes and human histories of African American Heritage Trails in the Gulf South region to the Great Lakes.

“I use photography and other media to explore the relationships between memory, history, language, and Black landscapes,” Agu states. “These projects are partially inspired by my family history, including migration stories and my own personal experiences. I’m originally from Houston, Texas, but I grew up moving around with my family through countries such as Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon, South Africa, and parts of Europe.” 

“For Shore/Lines, in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Photography, I have developed a new large-scale site-specific photographic installation. This installation will explore the unique histories and geographies of Black lakefront communities,” Agu added.    

Regina Agu: Shore/Lines brings together discourses of Black geographies, landscape photography, and site-specific land histories, using the methodology of landscape panorama as a format for relating ideas and themes of Black cultural memory connected to place. The exhibition includes an artist book that Agu refers to as a “field guide,” connecting her Midwest and Gulf South experiences of the landscapes.