Since relocating from Seattle to Chicago in September 2019, the Mariane Ibrahim Gallery has continued its decade-long tradition of elevating African and African diasporic artists. Earlier this year, some of Eugène’s more abstract works were featured in a dual-exhibition at the gallery’s Paris location. The Mariane Ibrahim Gallery represents a impressive cohort of artists across its three locations: Chicago, Paris, and—most recently—Mexico City.

Referencing the common weight restriction airline companies impose on travelers, “50 lbs.” is Haitian-American painter Patrick Eugène’s first solo exhibition with the Mariane Ibrahim Gallery. Eugène’s immersive, multi-layered viewing experience addresses the idea of transience in the literal sense of migration, as well as through ancestral family mapping. In addition to Eugène’s paintings, in which he uses his own family’s likeness as reference, “50 lbs.” includes two multimedia installations, the artist’s first, using actual luggage and symbolic Haitian mementos to highlight the difficult decisions made when packing for a life away from one’s home country. D-Composed, a Chicago based Black chamber music collective, will be presenting the works of Haitian and African American composers as part of a collaborative accompaniment to the exhibition.