Barack Obama and artist Njiideka Akunyili Crosby stood together this week to unveil the first official joint portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama. The piece will go on permanent display in the Hope and Change lobby of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, starting this Juneteenth.
Let’s start with the date, friends, because it matters. Juneteenth is June 19th. It’s the federal holiday marking the end of slavery in the United States – specifically the day in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas received word that they were free. Choosing that date for this portrait’s debut was not an accident.
The Obama Presidential Center sits on Chicago’s South Side, in Jackson Park. That’s the neighborhood where Obama spent years as a community organizer before entering politics. The center includes a museum, community gathering spaces, and a public park. It was designed to serve the South Side as well as visitors from around the country. The Hope and Change lobby is the main public-facing space inside the building. This portrait won’t be tucked in a back gallery. It’ll be front and center.
The artist is Njiideka Akunyili Crosby. She was born in Nigeria and is based in Los Angeles. Over the past fifteen years, she’s become one of the most recognized figurative painters in the world. Her large-scale works pull together personal history, photography, and cultural imagery on a single canvas. They hang in major museum collections in the U.S. and abroad. In 2017, she received the MacArthur Fellowship, the award most people know as the “genius grant.” Obama described her as “a gifted Nigerian-born, Los Angeles-based artist” in his Instagram announcement.
Obama wrote that the portrait “reflects so many chapters of Michelle and my story.” He said they were “thrilled” to have it on display in the center’s lobby. This is the first portrait of the couple to go on permanent display there.
Some useful context: the Obamas already have individual portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Kehinde Wiley painted Barack’s and Amy Sherald painted Michelle’s. Both were unveiled in February 2018 to significant public attention. This new piece is different. It’s their first joint portrait, it lives in their own institution, and it’s going up in Chicago.
The announcement didn’t describe the painting’s specific imagery. Obama’s own words suggest the work covers more than just the White House years. Akunyili Crosby’s paintings are known for layering different time periods and personal history within a single canvas. That aligns with what Obama described.
The Instagram post crossed 1.1 million likes. That number isn’t unusual for Obama’s account, but it confirms the announcement reached people well outside the typical art-world audience.
The Obama Presidential Center hasn’t released specific ticketing or viewing details for the Juneteenth debut. More information is expected before June 19th.
