Julie Mehretu, a world-renowned Ethiopian-American artist and activist, has designed a large stained glass artwork for the exterior of the Obama Presidential Center in South Side Chicago. Uprising of the Sun measures 83 by 25 feet and appears on the north facade of the highly anticipated building by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA).
The artwork marks Mehretu’s first stained glass piece. It was a collaboration with Franz Mayer Studio, a glass design and manufacturing company based in Munich, Germany and New York City. The installation incorporates a variety of methods including hand painting, freehand airbrushing, ceramic melting colors, and tape masking.
Uprising of the Sun is an abstract piece that takes cues from Barack Obama’s 2015 speech about the legendary Civil Rights marches in Selma, Alabama; words which also feature in the Obama Presidential Center’s facade. From the interior, the stained glass will offer scintillating, polychromatic views of the outdoors. It will follow visitors as they ascend upward throughout the building.
“I wanted to honor Chicago’s history and President Obama’s legacy by telling a story about how change happens,” Mehretu shared in a statement. “This work is layered with history, and I’m eager to see how people will connect with it—whether you’re a grandparent from the South Side of Chicago or a kid from Addis Ababa. I hope it serves as an invitation to every visitor that they are welcome to be a part of the Center’s mission to make an impact and work towards a better future.”
President Obama added: “Julie learned at a young age how access to public space can help shape and affect people’s lives. For her to be a part of what we hope will be a transformative institution that will be unique in how it brings so many different people, ideas, and resources together is a wonderful opportunity for us.”
Mehretu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but spent much of her childhood in Detroit and Chicago. Today, she lives in New York City. Her work is at the intersection of abstract painting, architectural landscapes, and blurred photography. In 2005, Mehretu was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and a Medal of Arts Award from the U.S. State Department in 2015.
Five years later, in 2020, Mehretu was included in TIME’s 100 most influential people list. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences in Ethiopia and the National Academy of Design; and sits on the board of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Uprising of the Sun is the third bespoke artwork commissioned by Barack and Michelle Obama for the Obama Presidential Center. The other two are Richard Hunt’s Book Bird sculpture, and a water feature, Seeing Through the Universe by Maya Lin.
The Obama Presidential Center is expected to open in spring 2026. The building is the subject of a panel at AN’s Facades+ Chicago conference on October 4.
