Get to Know this Local Agent of Change

Photo courtesy of Obama Presidential Center Museum

Tyanna J. Buie first met former President Barack Obama in 2004. She was part of the Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, whose pastor was involved in politics and endorsed Obama for Illinois state senator.

Along with other congregants, Buie attended the Bud Billiken Parade and danced on a float in support of Obama. She had no idea who he was, but she trusted in her church.

“At the end of the parade, that’s when we got to meet Barack Obama,” she says. “I remember we all turned around, and he just was magical. It was something about his aura, and we were stopped dead in our tracks and were like, ‘OK, so this is a bigger thing that we didn’t know about.’”

Photo courtesy of Tyanna J. Buie

Obama served three terms as a state senator before being sworn in as the forty-fourth president of the United States in 2009. Buie went on to become an artist and associate professor of printmaking and graduate program director at the Rhode Island School of Design.

She earned her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and had her first solo exhibition at her alma mater in 2019. Leah Kolb curated her show, and through their collaboration, the pair became friends.

When the Obama Presidential Center Museum in Chicago was searching for artists to develop site-specific works, Kolb threw Buie’s hat in the ring.

“ She never said what the project was. She just said, ‘It’s about a library project,’ so I thought, ‘Oh, a public library project. OK, cool.’ I sent her my stuff immediately, didn’t hear back for eight months. I completely forgot about it,” Buie says.

The following year, Kolb told Buie that Barack and Michelle Obama selected her as one of thirty
artists to showcase their work in the new Obama Presidential Center Museum.

Since the Obamas and Buie used to reside on the South Side of Chicago, the artist explained that there was an unspoken connection in their shared experiences. 

“ I do love the synergy of they saw my work and were immediately like, ‘Yes, that person’s work belongs here,’” she says.

Buie created “Be the Change!” as a large-scale installation in The Democracy in Action Lab in the Forum building.

“Be the Change!,” at left, sits in a lounge space used for reflection before and after democratic knowledge-building workshops. Her layered screenprint utilizes archival imagery from Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign as well as crucial materials of civic engagement.

In creating the piece, Buie thought about the actions people take to work with or elect a politician they believe in. She purchased old newspapers from eBay with images from Obama’s campaign to use for the wall mural. Through three framed works, she highlights traditional voting in a ballot box, signing online petitions and letting your voice be heard through a bullhorn.

Buie enlisted RISD alum Joanna Booth and current student Daniella Pozo to assist with the project.

“I find it to be very toxic when people say, ‘Well, nobody ever helped me,’” she says. “It was great having former students work with me because it teaches me to keep true to those values of giving back.”

When “Be the Change!” was officially installed, Buie said she had the most fun chatting with custodial and construction workers.

“I just had a field day with the people that work at the building. They were like, ‘This is my favorite piece.’ I was like, ‘Really?’” she says. “It was something about that piece that just connects with the everyday person.”