Most Chicagoans know the Wachowskis from their cinematic and television credits, and throughout that body of work, from “The Matrix,” to the Netflix’s recently cancelled “Sense8,”sex and gender identity has been integral to their endeavors. Lilly, the second of the two sisters to come out as transgender, has also been quietly painting the portraits of each trans woman murdered in 2016, the year of her transition. Shown recently at the Center on Halsted, the exhibit was a necessary reminder that segments of the population love to hate, and also that hate comes at a cost in lives. Haunting and important, Wachowski pointed specifically to the center as a safe space for premiering the portraits, a fact that reaffirms it as the gem we’ve always known it to be.
