Tonika Johnson

Co-Founder

Resident Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.) & Englewood Arts Collective

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Tonika Johnson is a visual artist and photographer from Chicago’s South Side Englewood neighborhood. In 2010, she helped co-found Resident Association of Greater Englewood (R.A.G.E.) and is the lead co-founder of Englewood Arts Collective established in 2017. Also in 2017, she was featured in Chicago Magazine as a Chicagoan of the Year for her photography of Englewood. Within her artistic practice, Tonika often explores urban segregation and documents the nuance and richness of the black community. Her multi-media project titled "Folded Map" that illustrates Chicago's residential segregation while bringing residents together to have a conversation, was exhibited at Loyola University's Museum of Art in 2018. Since then she has transformed this project into an advocacy and policy-influencing tool that invites audiences to open a dialogue and question how we are all socially impacted by racial and institutional conditions that segregate the city. In 2019, she was named one of Field Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago and most recently, she was appointed as a member of the Cultural Advisory Council of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events by the Chicago City Council.