“City Wild” (Nov 23 – Dec 21, 2024) is Ian John Solomon’s debut solo exhibition, presenting a visual and emotional investigation into the relationship between Detroit’s land, infrastructure, and residents, and Michigan’s protected natural spaces. Through collage, portraiture, and landscape, the artist built a dialogue between city and nature, revealing unseen connections between the urban and the wild.

The exhibition emerged from a desire to understand how Detroit—a city defined by its industrial legacy and its enduring spirit of resilience and reconstruction—fits within Michigan’s broader ecological context, known for its lakes, forests, and preserved natural areas. Solomon transformed the gallery into a hybrid environment where concrete and fertile soil could coexist in both tension and harmony.

Drawing from his own East Side neighborhood, the artist explored materials, textures, and symbols that represent the everyday reality of his community. His collages and photographs combine layers of steel, vegetation, and portraiture to create affective landscapes that question the divide between the human and the natural. The work proposed a gaze that recognizes the environment as an essential part of Black Detroit’s identity and history.

My work is about investigating and embodying the environment. I seek to understand self, community, and ancestry through connecting with the spaces I inhabit.” — Ian John Solomon

“City Wild” also reflected on the importance of reconnecting urban residents with the state’s natural landscapes. Through a practice that merges art, activism, and ecology, Solomon built bridges between environmental awareness and community belonging. His interdisciplinary approach invited audiences to imagine new modes of coexistence—where the city does not stand apart from nature, but thrives within it.

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About the Artist