BIO

Tonal (tuh-nawl) Mondae (they/them) is a documentary photographer and writer based in Chicago, Illinois. Informed by the loss of their younger brother to leukemia due to a late diagnosis, their work centers grief, artifacts, gender, displacement, and health disparities affecting the Black community as a result of medical neglect.

In response to the danger within medical systems, the home, or simply going for a walk —particularly for Black women, children, and queer individuals— they aim to capture moments of respite in spaces of comfort. Through lens-based photography and eco-printing, they document not only the people but also the artifacts of the space-making.

Naturescapes frequently appear in their work as an homage to growing up outdoors in the Midwest, queer ecology, and their first painting featuring flowers, which hung in the same hospital where their brother passed away a few months later. They believe grief instructs us all.

Tonal was a 2025 Chicago Creatives for Justice Fellow and is a 2025–2027 Artists in Public Schools Resident.

CONTACT

For more information on Tonal’s work, to get in touch about collaborations, interviews, exhibitions, or other opportunities, please use this form or email info@tonalmondae.com.

CURATORIAL EXHIBITS

Pilsen Arts & Community House.. (2026). Traces of Us/Rastros de Nosotros. Chicago, IL.

Heaven Gallery. (2023). Our Black Experience. Chicago, IL.

EXHIBITS

Indianapolis Art Center. (2024). Art from The Heartland. Indianapolis, IN.

Pilsen Arts & Community House. (2023). Divine Masculine, Divine Feminine. Chicago, IL.

Side Street Art Center. (2023). h a b i t a t. Elgin, IL.

Engine Coffee. (2022). A Black Mood. Chicago, IL.

FEATURES
Quibble: Issue 12 – outlook.lookout, Fall Issue, October 2023 (virtual)

Metonym Journal – Connection, Spring 2024 Issue (print)