Evanston artist and sculptor Indira Johnson offered Chicago Cultural Center visitors an opportunity to engage in an intricate community art project aiming to promote peace, unity and blessings on Friday and Saturday. Over several hours, participants used rice flour, turmeric, dirt, flower petals and leaves to decorate a Rangoli — a large traditional Indian floor.
For Evanston-based sculpture artist Indira Freitas Johnson, art and nonviolence have always been intertwined. Growing up in Mumbai, she was influenced by her parents’ work. Her mother started a community development center and her father, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, was an artist. “(My father) would tell us stories about Gandhi’s nonviolent methods,” Johnson said..