60637: Woodlawn's Historical Heroes

Artist Statement

This series of portraits was created in response to the artist's desire as an outsider to the neighborhood of Woodlawn to better understand and situate this space as a place that provides dignity and respect for its current and past residents. Woodlawn (as of 2020) has often been viewed as a place of neglect and survival in media created by and for white, heteronormative folks. The artist rejects this narrative; the rich cultural history of this neighborhood speaks to its reality as a focal point of connection and community for Black Chicago. Pulitzer-prize-winning writers, social activists, famed reverends, Olympic athletes, musicians, city mayors, and mothers and sons all claim space and continue to inform the consciousness of Woodlawn. 

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Gwendolyn Brooks speaks to the special dignity being recalled in "60637" via her poem, “Primer for Blacks:” 

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Blackness

is a title,

is a preoccupation,

is a commitment Blacks

are to comprehend—

and in which you are

to perceive your Glory.​

. . . 

The huge, the pungent object of our prime out-ride

is to Comprehend,

to salute and to Love the fact that we are Black,

which is our “ultimate Reality,”

which is the lone ground

from which our meaningful metamorphosis,

from which our prosperous staccato,

group or individual, can rise.”