PERMANENT RECORD: A People’s Salon

Matthew Collin Clark was born in Wiesbaden, Germany and raised in Florida, where he later pursued a bachelor's degree in History at the University of Florida (go Gators!). 

Matthew moved to Chicago where he worked as a bartender at Lost Lake, Lula Cafe, and Bungalow, and freelance reported for the Windy City Times and City Bureau. He graduated with a Masters in the Art of Teaching History (which, ironically, spells MATH, which Matthew is not especially good at) from the University of Illinois Chicago (go Flames!). 

Matthew currently teaches U.S. History and Civics at Bowen High School in South Chicago (go Boilermakers!). He lives with his husband and their dog, Lulu.

Tempestt Hazel (she/her) is a curator, writer, and co-founder of Sixty Inches From Center, a collective of editors, writers, artists, curators, librarians, and archivists who have published and produced collaborative projects about artists, archival practice, and culture in the Midwest since 2010. 

Across her practices and through Sixty, Tempestt has worked alongside artists, organizers, grantmakers, and cultural workers to explore solidarity economies, cooperative models, archival practice, future canon creation, and systems change in and through the arts. 

Photo by Kristie Kahns.

Damon Locks (he/him) is a Chicago-based visual artist, educator, vocalist/musician. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received his BFA in fine arts. Since 2014, he has been working with the Prisons and Neighborhood Arts Project at Stateville Correctional Center teaching art. He is a 2025 recipient of the Creative Capital Award. 

In 2017, Damon became a Soros Justice Media Fellow. He received the Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Achievement Award in the Arts in 2015. In 2019, he became a 3Arts Awardee. 

Damon spent 4 years as an artist in residence as a part of the Museum of Contemporary Arts’ SPACE Program, introducing civically engaged art into the curriculum at Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy High School. He teaches Improvisation in the Sound Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

Damon leads the Black Monument Ensemble, is a member of New Future City Radio, Exploding Star Orchestra, and co-founded the band The Eternals.

Photo by Jamie Kelter Davis.

Reuben Jonathan Miller is a writer and sociologist.