I Can Has Revolution

“I’ve been in Rogers Park for sixteen years. I came back to finish school at Columbia College. Fiction writing.”

“I’ve been really happy here. I’ve lived in a lot of different neighborhoods; Ukrainian Village, Lakeview, Downtown, Lincoln Park—and this is the first time I felt like I was in a community—and I belonged to a community. Especially after I lost my job. For many years I was busy, you know, worked my corporate job, and not really getting to know my neighbors. But when I was laid off, I got involved with local politics, and got to meet a lot of different people involved—here in Rogers Park. And a lot of artists, and different activists. I feel this is my place.”

“I’ve been working on a lot of [political] campaigns since 2011. I worked on President Obama’s campaign in the 49th ward. I worked for Governor Quinn last year…I worked for [Chicago] Alderman Moore, I worked for [Chicago mayoral candidate] Chuy Garcia.”

“I’ve always been interested in progressive politics, but I didn’t feel like I needed to get involved as a volunteer—until the Iraq war. That really made me angry. Then, losing my job and seeing what was happening with the economy. I put all my time into it. I was a neighborhood team leader for Rogers Park [on the Obama presidential campaign]. And got hooked on it. Because you feel like you’re doing something that means something—as opposed to just making money.”

“I definitely aspire to be a novelist. I would love nothing more than to be a full-time writer.”

What would be the theme of your first novel?

“I think I’d write about the economic problems in America right now. I’m interested in historical fiction, too. But I think I would definitely address some of the things I’ve personally gone through in the last few years. I went from being in the middle class, to having a real hard time just finding a regular job. I think a lot of people are going through that. I have friends with masters degrees who can’t find jobs with a living wage.”

Who’s your hero?

A woman returns home from the market with a Christmas tree  -   Otto Haeckel 1895

German 1872-1945

Photography

“I moved to Rogers Park seven years ago. I waited six years, and then I shot my neighbors. In most instances I got to know them a little bit first. And then I shot them. And I posted the results on a blog. Sometimes, I check my notes to see if I remember their names correctly. I don’t always, but I do remember almost all of their stories. I look at the faces in the portraits I made and I can remember the circumstances of our meeting, and sometimes even the details and backstories that they shared before I started or after I stopped recording our conversation.”

“From July 2015 to July 2016, whenever the weather agreed and I could spare or make time, I’d walk the streets of East Rogers Park, asking anyone who’d make eye contact with me, ‘Do you live here in Rogers Park? Would you mind spending a few minutes with me for a project I’m working on?’ I met a lot of people. Dozens who you won’t see pictured at PeopleOfRogersPark.com, but who took time out of their day to tell me about their life, their Rogers Park experience. I appreciate all those conversations. Then and now. There were many more who couldn’t spare the time just then, but who hoped to circle back one day to take part; it was nice to make a new acquaintance even if only for a few rushed moments. And the four hundred or so people who did collaborate with me: we talked, shared laughs and ideas and even opinions—mostly while I recorded our conversation, and then I’d shoot a few photos and we’d continue on our separate ways. The most thanks goes to these people who allowed me to take their time unexpectedly, without anything palpable in return, and who shared so much about themselves and their lives, even sometimes when they didn’t think they were.”

“What I now know more acutely than ever is that you simply cannot know unless you ask (and take the time to listen). You’ll never be understood unless you share. And when you talk to people, you learn what makes us similar and even the same; many of the differences don’t matter as much, if at all.”

“To be perfectly clear, I wasn’t inspired to begin People of Rogers Park by anyone else. Any references to other, more well-known projects or photographers have always been to provide a frame of reference for those who may be familiar with them. I’ve been a photographer years, and I’ve always enjoyed photographing people. In 1987 I completed a series of street portraits that still inspires me today. Obviously, the world has changed considerably since then. Digital image-making as we know it didn’t exist, and there was definitely no internet. There are a lot of reasons I created People of Rogers Park. Most of them I didn’t discover until I was hip-deep into it. I suspect that some of the reasons and what I’ve learned haven’t even been revealed to me yet. Truthfully, People of Rogers Park began as fodder for under-employed idle hands, teased by the cyclical nature of life. People of Rogers Park brought me back to that earlier street portrait project: a time when the world was my oyster and I was unafraid to know it and the people in it. Mostly, I took on the People of Rogers Park project because I could. And I wanted to.”

Now, at its conclusion, many sincere thanks to everyone who participated in, and lent their support to People of Rogers Park over the last year.

In health, Clint Smith