Born in Chicago, where he continues to live and work, Theaster Gates has received widespread international recognition for his projects of social transformation and legacy building. Believing in art as a guiding force to incite change, his art occupies the space of art and urban planning, encompassing sculpture, ceramics, painting, music, video and performance. In 2009, Gates established the Rebuild Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to arts and culture programming and neighbourhood transformation for communities. In his art, Gates often gives old, discarded objects a new life; buildings a reactivation with new purpose.