“The Artsy Kid in the Hood”

One of Nekita Thomas’s first creative role models was her mother, who remixed everyday materials like milk crates into bedframes, and so much more.

Listen as Nekita shares memories of living in Chicago’s Dearborn Homes, and hear how witnessing the designs of the everyday in public housing—from the innovative to the restrictive—led to her becoming an Associate Professor of Design at University of Illinois.

This interview was conducted by Dr. ShaDawn “Boobie” Battle as a part of her 2025 Chicago Archives + Artists residency with the National Public Housing Museum, sponsored by Sixty Inches from Center. 

Episode notes, sources, and resources

Learn more about Nekita Thomas and browse a portfolio of her projects at www.nekitathomas.com.

Additional resources:

• https://www.johnjenningsstudio.com/ 
• “Black Kirby” project, John Jennings and Stacey Robinson 
• Chicago Plan for Transformation (ProPublica, 2022)
• Chicago Plan for Transformation (University of Illinois Chicago, 2025) 
• Spatializing Blackness, Rashad Shabazz

Music:

• “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” written by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson and performed by Clarence Simpson under Creative Commons licensing in 2021.
• Additional music by Robert Van Vranken.
• Hear more music from the entire season in our season playlist.