The Podcast in Arabic

The Podcast in Arabic is a show series that highlights stories & ideas interesting to the Arab American communities in North America's major cities.

In this episode, we will be talking about Chicago's O'Hare Airport. As part of their expansion project, they will be installing an art project next summer at O’Hare Airport as part of the Terminal 5 Expansion Project.

We interviewed Jina Valentine, the leading artist for this project.

About the Project: This project maps the demographic composition of the state of Illinois from colonization and ratification (1818) to twenty years into the future (2040). It can
be read as a two-century-long demographic timeline of immigration to the
state of Illinois. It will consist of approximately 850 wall-mounted convex
aluminum discs of varying sizes which correspond to census data visualizations
of the state’s population growth. The discs will be etched with texts sourced
from the ephemera of numerous community organizations that have existed in
Chicago and transcribed in the original languages. As the discs themselves are
semi-reflective, they will both allow light to pass into the space through the
windows above, and reflect light from adjacent windows-- and travelers’
images-- back into the space.

We wanted to highlight the important opportunity for Arab Americans in Chicago, and the State of Illinois to leave a mark in the airport by providing a relevant quote to be installed in this project.

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