“What Time Is It?” A Cultural and Civic Archive invites Chicago’s BIPOC & LGBTQIA+ artists, healers, and freedom fighters to examine our historic moment through the lens of global time.

“What Time Is It?” was inspired by Black Power organizers and philosophers Grace Lee Boggs & Jimmy Boggs. Together they visualized 3,000 years of human history on a 12 hour clock where every minute represents 50 years. Building on this model of time, they theorized that revolution as the primary driver of social change is only 5 minutes old. They advocated for “visionary organizing” rooted in re-imagining not only structures and institutions, but also ourselves and our relationships. 

Founded in May 2020, by interdisciplinary artist Irina Zadov, the archive uplifts and documents Chicago’s social, political, and cultural histories through visual art and oral histories. Our creative team includes: photographer and documentarian Loren Toney, graphic designer Jay Sath, editor and public programmer Rivka Yeker, audio producer Najee-Zaid Searcy, and interdisciplinary artist and curator Juarez Hawkins.

What began as a pandemic project grew into a multimedia archive that includes hand-painted portraits, oral histories, photographs, exhibitions, audio stories, a book, and a community-engaged public programming series. 

Since its inception, the project has featured 50 of Chicago’s most visionary artists, activists, educators, and community organizers. Archive participants include: MacArthur Genius Tonika Johnson, Chicago’s first Poet Laureate avery r. young, Black Lives Matter Chicago founder Ailslinn Pulley, The People’s Art Teacher William Estrada, food justice organizer at the Little Village Environmental Justice Center, Vivi Moreno; and everyday Chicagoans coming together to care for each other and our beloved city. 

What Time Is It? has been featured as an installation at the Hyde Park Art Center (2021), a solo exhibition at the Chicago Art Department (2023), a 186 page full-color book printed by For the Birds Trapped in Airports (2023), a podcast produced by Najee-Zaid Searcy (2023) and a mini-documentary film (2024) produced by Kai Foster. It has been shared with communities across the city through programming, panel discussions, and community events in partnership with Chicago Art Department, Hyde Park Art Center, Axis Lab, and the Chicago Park District. It has also been utilized by classroom teachers and university professors as part of coursework engaging Art and Democracy (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), Community Archives (SAIC), Socially Engaged Art (Northwestern University), Cultural Criticism (University of Chicago), and Critical Pedagogy (University of California, Berkeley).