“This could have easily been a credit union or some Starbucks or some bullshit. But it’s not.”
Sitting outside Fourtunehouse Art Center with a joint in hand, founding director Makafui Searcy looked around Cottage Grove while people entered and exited the center, setting up the next exhibit. Once known as the Black Metropolis, Bronzeville is one of Chicago’s oldest neighborhoods, which generations of Black families made a flourishing epicenter of culture, music, art and community in the twentieth century. Decades later, a new generation of residents is reminding the city of the cultural powerhouse that it is, not was.
“[Being from the South Side] is an emblem that we wear with pride. And also a responsibility to contribute towards building the culture and ecosystem that we all have envisioned through our experiences and dreaming about what the South Side could and should be,” Searcy said.
Before establishing the brick-and-mortar arts space in June 2022, Searcy felt like he always had to leave the South Side for artistic opportunities. That only pushed the then-22-year-old further into the direction of developing his own concept in the neighborhood where he grew up and went to high school.
Since it opened four years ago, Fourtunehouse has hosted hundreds of artists, with a focus on hyperlocal talent looking to showcase their work in an independent art space. Among them recently was multidisciplinary South Side artist Kierra Wooden.
Wooden’s exhibit, “Transfiguration,” a successor of her first exhibit, “God Complex,” included a short film of the same name that she wrote, directed, and animated, as well as a zine featuring her poetry and thoughts.
“Who do you want to be now that you know what you are?”
That is the question that Wooden asked herself as she thought not only about the central theme of her second exhibition, but also what it meant for her to be living the last year of her twenties. Having put on her first exhibit at Fourtunehouse, Searcy would be instrumental in pushing Wooden to continue her artistic journey and showcase her evolving art practice at Fourtunehouse. “This exhibition was kind of me revealing my true nature,” Wooden said.
“At the core level our mission is to support the advancement of artists and change makers and what that looks like is being a launch pad at times,” Searcy said.
Wooden’s film, which was scored by Kemond Collins, with Paul Araki Elliott as director of photography, is beautiful, almost surrealist, cutting back and forth between Wooden’s animation and high-contrast monochrome snapshots of herself. Standing on a platform in a T-pose with her eyes shut, Wooden is awakened and begins to move her body with the flick of her long white fingernails.
It’s an intimate black and white ode to the Saturn return we come face to face when transitioning into adulthood—imperfect and freeing simultaneously. For Wooden it only felt right to host her art at Fourtunehouse.
A still image from Wooden’s experimental film, “Transfiguration.”The director of photography for “Transfiguration” is Paul Araki Elliot, who in the past has contributed photography to the Weekly. Photo courtesy of Fourtunehouse 
Still image of Kierra Wooden from her short film “Transfiguration.” Photo courtesy of Fourtunehouse
“I just wanted to keep it close to home, and contribute to the good causes that the people in my community are doing for Chicagoans, but also most importantly the Chicago art scene,” Wooden said.
Searcy said Fourtunehouse is booked through the end of the year with art exhibitions and private events, a sign of the success and community support that’s continued through the four years since the art gallery’s inception. Fourtunehouse is also busy with collaborations with other organizations like the Virgil Abloh Foundation and Black Lunch Table who recently worked together to produce Future Archive, a multidisciplinary exhibition curated by Houefa Agassounon and Frenchie Ford as “an exploration of what we choose to remember, preserve, and carry forward.”
The space is not without economic burdens—an air conditioning replacement this summer was costly—but Searcy is optimistic about future grant applications. He also plans on expanding Fourtunehouse’s reach by developing a fall catalog to further platform the artists that have made the space what it is.
“It is us building our artist ecosystem and just showing a bit more of the community that we built here. We’re also gonna be rolling out a conversation series,” Searcy said. “We’re trying to do more artist spotlights, showing more work, doing more editorial work with artists.”
Fourtunehouse is in its first years, and the blueprint is still being developed. But there is no question about the impact and influence it has reignited in Bronzeville and the greater South Side.
“It’s been a blessing, and it’s really cool to be able to have built something in my neighborhood,” Searcy said.
Fourtunehouse Art Center, 4410 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Check exhibition days and hours at fourtunehouse.com. 872-225-6495.
Jocelyn Martinez-Rosales is a Mexican American independent journalist from Belmont Cragin covering music and culture. She is also a senior editor at the Weekly.