Meet the Collective

[What identities are central to you?] black, queer, non-binary, venusian, artist

[Describe home to you] i’ve always lived in a Full house. Full of mouth-watering aromas from holiday feasts, and faint traces of bleach from communal cleaning every week. Full of song and dance, laughter and joy. Full of babies playing with [sometimes obnoxious] toys. Full of life and spice, like cayenne, curry, cinnamon—or heated debates at a Full table on family game night. Full of reveries, Full of grief, Full of people with similar faces yet varying identities. my home has always been Full of people who love and were made for me.

[Relationship to public housing, and why NPHM?] my family & i have lived experience in public housing from before i was born up until the present day. i’m involved with the NPHM OH programs because i admire the art of storytelling. being apart of creating and preserving memories is so important and necessary, it feels rewarding that i’m able to do something in this lifetime that will live beyond me!

Chantel Kemp is an artist, farmer, poet, environmental justice activist, and musician. Since early childhood, Chantel has been immersed in her love for poetry, music, and art, capturing deep emotions to share with her audience. Chantel is a multi-award winner, with recognition from Hunter College’s “40 Under 40 Award”, Community Board 9, as well as receiving a City Council Citation for her environmental programming and stewardship in the South Bronx during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her work has led her to work with prominent institutions like The Whitney Museum, as well as collaborating with renowned artist Cecilia Vicuña and her work at The Guggenheim Museum, working alongside visionaries, artists, musicians, poets, and environmentalists to create collaborative creative networks and community connection. Chantel is also a Food Justice Alumna for the Vital Village Community Food Systems Fellowship in collaboration with Boston Medical Center. She now continues her community work as a consultant for the National Public Housing Museum and operates as the Community & Partnership Lead at NYLA HOUSE.

[What identities are central to you?] Born in Tumbiscatío de Ruiz, Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Chicago, I am an interdisciplinary artist, muralist, lyricist, teaching artist, museum educator, and founder of arts and education non-profit, S.H.E. Gallery. Deeply rooted in my Mexican heritage and late ’80s Chicago gang/graffiti culture, my practice bridges event curation with esoteric studies of life and death, using public art and organic biomorphic line art as a universal language to build unity. As an oral historian with NPHM through the Beauty Turner Academy, I see my work as a direct extension of Beauty’s legacy—listening, preserving stories, and honoring living memories.

[Describe home to you.] Home is not a single geographic pin, but a bridge between Tumbiscatío de Ruiz and Chicago, and every place I visit—found in shared memory, sacred geometry of community, and the physical spaces where we gather to tell our truths. I’ve found that home is not a house, just as a church is not a building; home is what you construct out of your personal sacred values. For me, home is my faith. Faith is my roof, my shelter, and my faith is love—so to me, home, ultimately, is love.

[Relationship to public housing?] Growing up moving between Little Village, Pilsen, Gage Park, and Brighton Park, I experienced firsthand the complex realities of Chicago’s working-class neighborhoods. Public housing and urban housing struggles have always been part of the living fabric around me. After learning about the opportunity through Illinois Humanities’ Odyssey Project alumni network when the museum opened, I immediately took the cohort and apprenticeship, graduating last fall. Today, having completed two oral history stories, I serve as NPHM’s only Spanish-speaking oral historian—acting as a direct bridge to Spanish-speaking communities by connecting my own immigrant roots and lived struggle with deep compassion.

[Why work with NPHM?] NPHM matters to me because it honors everyday history as sacred, allowing me to preserve local roots while expanding my understanding of how communities living “in struggle” across the nation share similar resilience. Through this work, my perspective on my humble origins has transformed: I see our struggles not as limitations, but as priceless gems. When we shift our mindset to recognize that our lived stories and cultural wealth carry far more power than material wealth, we reclaim our truth, our dignity, and our collective power. To me, this work is vital because it gives “power to the people” a true, authentic voice—and it is an incredible feeling to be a part of that process.

Gray has contributed to public history and reparations initiatives across the country, including the Black History at the Vassall Estate report, which delves into the history of the Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters in Cambridge, MA. This report begins at the turn of the 17th century and traces connections across North America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe, including ties to the founding of Harvard Law School.

[What identities are central to you?]
Black; Puerto Rican; Woman; New Yorker

[What do you do when you need to reconnect to your heart?] When I need to reconnect with my heart I find an ocean and swim.

[Relationship to Public Housing?] Former Resident; Family lived and lives in public housing

[What identities are central to you?] Black, Trans-agender, Lesbian, Autistic, Sibling to 7

When I need to reconnect to my heart, I dance like wild around my apartment and sing so everyone in the neighborhood can hear me and tell me to shut up or go head on and then I write and pray and take a bath and talk to or cry with my ancestors. After that, I go be with my loved ones.

[Relationship to public housing?] Former Resident

[What identities are central to you?] Black, human, nature lover, lowkey chill, like books and art alot, Auntie

[Share a dream of yours, literal or figurative] Recently I had a dream about my grandmother, my Big Mama, my mom’s mother. Not sure if I was a child or an adult but she was coming to live with us. For me to get home had to climb up the road which was a huge mud hill. The people standing at the top were standing there like everything was normal. Climbing included a full body event, dragging myself up the wall. When I arrived at the top, dusted off and kept walking to hurry home and help prepare for her arrival. The first dream of her in a while, her coming to live with us was always my dream. She died 2013.

[Relationship to public housing?] Family lived in public housing

[What identities are central to you?] All of the above.

I dream about writing stories that are not told often.

[Relationship to public housing?] Former Resident of the Robert Taylor Homes.

[What identities are central to you?] Black, feminist writer. Dendrophile & seed saver.

[Describe home for you.] Home for me is always the place where I can take off my shoes and listen to the hum of the house: the people I love who can be loud, radically honest and accepting. We tell stories to each other about each other and for each other. This is our quilt that keeps us grounded and strong from one generation to the next.

[Relationship to public housing, and why NPHM?] My paternal grandparents moved into public housing in Newark, New Jersey as one of the first families of the Baxter Terrace Housing Project which first opened in 1941. Becoming involved with NPHM and oral history has given me an opportunity to become the best version of myself and to help generate some good in this world. I believe that “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” – Alice Walker.

[What identities are central to you?] Black woman, granddaughter of Ammie and Kay

[Share one of your dreams, literal or figurative.] My dream is for Black women and girls to feel celebrated in their families and communities and have their healing centered in community, national and global conversations regarding mental and physical health [What do you do to reconnect to your heart?] When I am feeling disconnected from self or my heart, a practice I always like to implement is washing and detangling my hair. The process itself is long and meditative, allowing me to stop and truly think through what I am feeling, but I also love the imagery of detangling through my anxieties.

[Relationship to public housing, and why NPHM?] Provided therapy to youth and families living in public housing in the past. I am involved in NPHM Oral History Programs because I recognize that our narratives are a valuable part of how we heal ourselves and protect the next generation.

[What identities are central to you?] Black, poor, bastard, father, artist, intellectual, community member

[Share one of your dreams, literal or figurative.] My dream is to create a space program in Brazil.

[Relationship to public housing?] Former resident, I’m from the hood

[What identities are central to you?] I am a white, 1st gen, queer abolitionist, who is a trained circus clown, and aspiring public historian and healer.

[What do you do when you need to reconnect to your heart?] I feel most connected to my heart whenever I am building collective care and community.

[Relationship to public housing?] I have various family members who currently/formerly have lived in public housing in both the United States and Italy.