How to make a hood

La Keisha Leek

This is an extensive catalogue for the exhibition How to Make A Hood, curated by La Keisha Leek. The book includes artwork, conversations, and essays around the focus of the exhibition.

How to Make A Hood unfolds a wide canon of stereotypes that foster misconceptions as they relate to black bodies and their environments. The artists in this exhibition produce works that explore the multi-faceted characteristics of the word ‘hood’ in some fashion: a slang term for a black neighborhood; a suffix in cultural theory concepts like 'objecthood,' 'personhood,' 'negrohood;' and Trayvon Martin's hoodie, which, along with his being an objectified young black male, served as a signifier in an act of radical injustice.

This book was published in three editions: the first handmade hardcover edition of 50, a second paperback edition of 300, and a third edition of 100 of which all of the proceeds were donated to the Chicago Community Bond Fund and Brave Space Alliance.