The beauty in and of this space is stunning. Now the Chicago Cultural Center, I knew it when it was the Chicago Public Library. I marvel at the delicacy, design, and detail within. The genius within. At the same time that the beauty was palpable and life-giving, the absence of the female voice creates a resounding emptiness. Inlaid throughout the mosaics are quotes and names of writers, as you see in the video and photos above. I hope I missed a female one somewhere though I was quite thorough. Lucy, Go See has strong female voices in it, a strong mother’s voice in particular. “The mother’s voice is the most absent voice in literature,” Tillie Olsen once noted. How often do we hear and honor the mother’s voice in our society? Viola Pilgrim, Lucy’s mother, shows the power of a mother’s voice to heal the wounds of patriarchy.
