South Side

Jon Lowenstein

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With support from Stable Ground Boston

Jon Lowenstein specializes in long-term, in-depth documentary explorations that confront the realms of power, poverty, and social violence. Through the integral combination of photography, moving images, experiential prose and personal testimonials, he strives for unsparing clarity by revealing the subjects of history that lack voice.

The body of work featured in Violence Transformed comes from South Side, a long-term documentary exploration of Chicago's South Side. The work incorporates imagery and short experimental films examining the legacy of segregation, the impact of vast wealth inequality and how deindustrialization and globalization plays out on the ground in Chicago.

Jon Lowenstein, solo artist / Photo: Ryan Lash/ TED
Jon Lowenstein, solo artist / Photo: Ryan Lash/ TED

Slide Show of "South Side"

Portfolio Commentary by Jon Lowenstein

South Side - South Shore Dominick's Supermarket closing. With ten days left to work before she loses her job Dominick's cashier Ruth was pretty frustrated. Almost everything in the store is half off and the customers keep piling in. We don't know what's going to happen next in this area for a food supplier but one thing is for sure - this store is as good as dead. Ruth joked with the customers that she would stop by and eat at their homes. Another customer in back of me also offered her a place at her table but then stated that Ruth didn't like the food in South Shore. 'That's true' replied Ruth. 'I don't like a lot of food that people eat here,'. As the food piled up we speculated as to whether there would be another one. 'Perhaps a Food for Less' but not a Jewel cause there's one a mile west of here in Grand Crossing. I piled my bags into the cart and made my way into the chilly December air pushing my cart against the snow.

South Side - South Shore Dominick's Supermarket closing. With ten days left to work before she loses her job Dominick's cashier, Ruth was pretty frustrated. Almost everything in the store is half off and the customers keep piling in. We don't know what's going to happen next in this area for a food supplier but one thing is for sure - this store is as good as dead. Ruth joked with the customers that she would stop by and eat at their homes. Another customer in back of me also offered her a place at her table, but then stated that Ruth didn't like the food in South Shore. 'That's true' replied Ruth. 'I don't like a lot of food that people eat here'. As the food piled up, we speculated as to whether there would be another one. 'Perhaps a Food for Less' but not a Jewel 'cause there's one a mile west of here in Grand Crossing. I piled my bags into the cart and made my way into the chilly December air pushing my cart against the snow.

South Side - Anti-Violence activist Dawn Valenti carries balloons to a Back of the Yards Prayer vigil for 14  year old murder victim Endia Martin. Valenti's son was murdered.

South Side - Anti-Violence activist Dawn Valenti carries balloons to a Back of the Yards Prayer vigil for 14-year-old murder victim, Endia Martin. Valenti's son was murdered.

South Side - Pocket Town 9 year old Antonio Smith was gunned down near the corner of 71st and Woodlawn in the Pocket Town neighborhood of Grand Crossing. He was shot once while running and then several more times at close range. Tonight the neighbors held a peace walk through the two@neighborhoods that have been battling back and forth for years. The young men of Pocket Town are rivals with the Sircon guys and the killing goes back and forth across the viaduct. This has been going on for years and nobody in the two worlds seems to know how to stop it. The advice on the shrine is apropos 'Change will come when WE go get It!'

South Side - Pocket Town 9-year-old Antonio Smith was gunned down near the corner of 71st and Woodlawn in the Pocket Town neighborhood of Grand Crossing. He was shot once while running and then several more times at close range. Tonight the neighbors held a peace walk through the two neighborhoods that have been battling back and forth for years. The young men of Pocket Town are rivals with the Sircon guys and the killing goes back and forth across the viaduct. This has been going on for years and nobody in the two worlds seems to know how to stop it. The advice on the shrine is apropos: 'Change will come when WE go get It!'

Waiting for a chainsaw to arrive on the 7100 block of Dobson.

This is a story about place. 

Pockettown, or “the Pocket,” is a tight-knit African-American neighborhood in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. 

The South Side of Chicago’s once proud industrial communities fell onto hard times during the 1970s and 1980s, changing from thriving working class communities to places far removed from local and federal resources, rife with unemployment, poverty, drugs and gang violence. Despite this adversity, many residents have held on and guard deep feelings of affection for their communities.  More recently, though, another challenge has reared its head. Residents in each of these communities face the very real possibility of being displaced from the communities they love because they can no longer afford to live there. 

Since 2000 the South Side has seen major changes, including the destruction of many Chicago Housing Authority projects and the continued gentrification of many communities bordering Lake Michigan.  As part of documenting life in the Pocket, these photographs attempt to illustrate larger trends of renewal, change and transformation on the city’s South Side. 

The project also includes audio interviews with neighborhood residents that record their feelings about the changes occurring in their neighborhood. My hope is to stimulate dialogue about inequitable access to education, jobs and housing-in short, about opportunity and the meaning of community. 

I have few answers to these questions, but I’m not done looking.   

Before the mid-1950's it was a predominantly white-ethnic working-class neighborhood, but in the late 1950's black families began moving into the neighborhood in search of better housing opportunities. The stakes are high for the children and residents of this community.

Waiting for a chainsaw to arrive on the 7100 block of Dobson. This is a story about place. Pockettown, or “the Pocket,” is a tight-knit African-American neighborhood in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. The South Side of Chicago’s once proud industrial communities fell onto hard times during the 1970s and 1980s, changing from thriving working class communities to places far removed from local and federal resources, rife with unemployment, poverty, drugs and gang violence. Despite this adversity, many residents have held on and guard deep feelings of affection for their communities. More recently, though, another challenge has reared its head. Residents in each of these communities face the very real possibility of being displaced from the communities they love because they can no longer afford to live there. Since 2000 the South Side has seen major changes, including the destruction of many Chicago Housing Authority projects and the continued gentrification of many communities bordering Lake Michigan. As part of documenting life in The Pocket, these photographs attempt to illustrate larger trends of renewal, change and transformation on the city’s South Side. The project also includes audio interviews with neighborhood residents that record their feelings about the changes occurring in their neighborhood. My hope is to stimulate dialogue about inequitable access to education, jobs and housing-in short, about opportunity and the meaning of community. I have few answers to these questions, but I’m not done looking. Before the mid-1950's it was a predominantly white-ethnic working-class neighborhood, but in the late 1950's black families began moving into the neighborhood in search of better housing opportunities. The stakes are high for the children and residents of this community.

Protestors attend an event in Clayton, Missouri to honor Michael Brown and fight police accountabilty in the case.  On August 9, 2014 Ferguson, Missouri Police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed the unarmed 18 year old Michael Brown. This led to two weeks of civil unrest in the small Mid-Western town as protestors rose up to protest the killing. The protests continued for more than three months until a Grand Jury refused to bring charges against the officer in late November. Following the no indictment decision protestors again rose up both peacefully and violently with a result of burning at least 21 businesses in the communities in and around Ferguson. Ferguson has become synonymous with police brutality and the chant ‘Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!’ that protestors faced down military clad police man in the days following Brown’s killing. 

In the United States a black man is killed every 28 hours at the hands of police. Offending police officers are almost never indicted and even more rarely convicted of any of these killings. The protesters above all are calling for more police accountability. While black men are 21 times more likely than white men to be killed by police, Latinos are also killed by police at high rates. The increasing militarization of the police and the throughout the United States has struck a real cord of discontent across many races as people from all walks of life are now hitting the streets to protest police treatment of black people. 

The decision of the Michael Brown Grand Jury and the subsequent no indictment decision in the Eric Garner killing case at the hands of New York Police offices has laid bare deep racial divides that still exist in the United States and shown many outside the black community what type of actual discrimination still exists in the US. 

I traveled to Ferguson, Missouri just days after after Michael Brown was killed and have been following events ever since.

Protestors attend an event in Clayton, Missouri to honor Michael Brown and fight police accountability in the case. On August 9, 2014, Ferguson, Missouri Police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed the unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. This led to two weeks of civil unrest in the small mid-western town as protestors rose up to protest the killing. The protests continued for more than three months until a Grand Jury refused to bring charges against the officer in late November. Following the no-indictment decision, protestors again rose up both peacefully and violently with a result of burning at least 21 businesses in the communities in and around Ferguson. Ferguson has become synonymous with police brutality and the chant ‘Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!’ when protestors faced down military-clad policemen in the days following Brown’s killing. In the United States a black man is killed every 28 hours at the hands of police. Offending police officers are almost never indicted and even more rarely convicted of any of these killings. The protesters above all are calling for more police accountability. While black men are 21 times more likely than white men to be killed by police, Latinos are also killed by police at high rates. The increasing militarization of the police throughout the United States has struck a real cord of discontent across many races as people from all walks of life are now hitting the streets to protest police treatment of black people. The decision of the Michael Brown Grand Jury and the subsequent no-indictment decision in the Eric Garner killing case at the hands of New York Police officers has laid bare deep racial divides that still exist in the United States and shown many outside the black community what type of actual discrimination still exists in the US. I traveled to Ferguson, Missouri just days after after Michael Brown was killed and have been following events ever since.

Former Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis came to Ferguson in support of Michael Brown's family and to call for an indictment of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. His sign read 'Police Chief Jackson All We Want is the Truth' He believed strongly that there was a cover up going on and that the truth was being withheld. On August 9, 2014 Ferguson, Missouri Police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed the unarmed 18 year old Michael Brown. This led to two weeks of civil unrest in the small Mid-Western town as protestors rose up to protest the killing. The protests continued for more than three months until a Grand Jury refused to bring charges against the officer in late November. Following the no indictment decision protestors again rose up both peacefully and violently with a result of burning at least 21 businesses in the communities in and around Ferguson. Ferguson has become synonymous with police brutality and the chant ‘Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!’ that protestors faced down military clad police man in the days following Brown’s killing. 

In the United States a black man is killed every 28 hours at the hands of police. Offending police officers are almost never indicted and even more rarely convicted of any of these killings. The protesters above all are calling for more police accountability. While black men are 21 times more likely than white men to be killed by police, Latinos are also killed by police at high rates. The increasing militarization of the police and the throughout the United States has struck a real cord of discontent across many races as people from all walks of life are now hitting the streets to protest police treatment of black people. 

The decision of the Michael Brown Grand Jury and the subsequent no indictment decision in the Eric Garner killing case at the hands of New York Police offices has laid bare deep racial divides that still exist in the United States and shown many outside the black community what type of actual di

Former Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis came to Ferguson in support of Michael Brown's family and to call for an indictment of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. His sign read 'Police Chief Jackson - All We Want is the Truth.' He believed strongly that there was a cover up going on and that the truth was being withheld. On August 9, 2014, Ferguson, Missouri Police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed the unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. This led to two weeks of civil unrest in the small mid-western town as protestors rose up to protest the killing. The protests continued for more than three months until a Grand Jury refused to bring charges against the officer in late November. Following the no-indictment decision, protestors again rose up both peacefully and violently with a result of burning at least 21 businesses in the communities in and around Ferguson. Ferguson has become synonymous with police brutality and the chant ‘Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!’ that protestors faced down military clad police man in the days following Brown’s killing. In the United States a black man is killed every 28 hours at the hands of police. Offending police officers are almost never indicted and even more rarely convicted of any of these killings. The protesters above all are calling for more police accountability. While black men are 21 times more likely than white men to be killed by police, Latinos are also killed by police at high rates. The increasing militarization of the police and the throughout the United States has struck a real cord of discontent across many races as people from all walks of life are now hitting the streets to protest police treatment of black people. The decision of the Michael Brown Grand Jury and the subsequent no indictment decision in the Eric Garner killing case at the hands of New York Police offices has laid bare deep racial divides that still exist in the United States.

South Side - South Shore Coming home tonight I took a spin around the neighborhood. I saw a police car shining his light in an abandoned lot at 79th and Muskegon. This man was lying dead in the lot. I'm not sure if he was murdered or just died. There was no police tape up so I walked up to the body to take a picture. I took four or five before the cops ran me off, told me to cross the street and put tape around the entire lot. I asked one of the officers what happened to the man. He replied that the photographer took his picture with a flash and killed the man lying on the ground. 'Get across the street he stated more forcefully. I walked back to the other side of the street and felt the cold envelop me.

South Side - South Shore. Coming home tonight, I took a spin around the neighborhood. I saw a police car shining his light in an abandoned lot at 79th and Muskegon. This man was lying dead in the lot. I'm not sure if he was murdered or just died. There was no police tape up, so I walked up to the body to take a picture. I took four or five before the cops ran me off, told me to cross the street and put tape around the entire lot. I asked one of the officers what happened to the man. He replied that the photographer took his picture with a flash and killed the man lying on the ground. 'Get across the street' he stated more forcefully. I walked back to the other side of the street and felt the cold envelop me.

A young boy walks by a sign saying 'Stop Killing our Kids'. The sign was attached to a stop sign in the South Chicago neighborhood.

A young boy walks by a sign saying 'Stop Killing our Kids'. The sign was attached to a stop sign in the South Chicago neighborhood.

Walking home from school on a snowy day on 71st St. in the South Shore neighborhood. South Shore is one of the more economically mixed African-American neighborhoods on Chicago's South Side. While crime has definitely hit the neighborhood over years its also home to the South Shore Cultural Center and the Jackson Park Highlands which are known for wealhty residences for African-American families. Additionally, in the fallout from the city's 'Plan for Transformation' the neighborhood took in the most former publhic housing residents.

Walking home from school on a snowy day on 71st St. in the South Shore neighborhood. South Shore is one of the more economically mixed African-American neighborhoods on Chicago's South Side. While crime has definitely hit the neighborhood over years it's also home to the South Shore Cultural Center and the Jackson Park Highlands which are known for wealthy residences for African-American families. Additionally, in the fallout from the city's 'Plan for Transformation' the neighborhood took in the most former public housing residents.

South Side - Auburn Gresham The day before this the police had shot and killed a young man who had a gun one block east of this event. I arrived after I heard the call for a shooting at 8725 S. Morgan. A fight ensued between two groups of women. The police broke up the fight and detained the young women. One of the women was dragged for a bit as she was resisting officers. The women were processed but not arrested.

South Side - Auburn Gresham. The day before this the police had shot and killed a young man who had a gun one block east of this event. I arrived after I heard the call for a shooting at 8725 S. Morgan. A fight ensued between two groups of women. The police broke up the fight and detained the young women. One of the women was dragged for a bit as she was resisting officers. The women were processed but not arrested.

Community organizer and violence interrupter Ameena Matthews comforts protestor Kirah Moe during a particularly emotional moment while protesting against police brutality in Chicago. Upwards of 500 hundred people marched throughout downtown Chicago on Tuesday, November 24 to protest the police killing of Laquan McDonald at the hands of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke. McDonald was shot sixteen times and the video was withheld from public view until a judge ordred it released. McDonald was holding a small knife but was shot repeatedly in the dashcam video. The family was paid 5 million dollars in a settlement with the City of Chicago, but yesterday officer Van Dyke was also charged with murder after a whistleblower brought the video to the attention of a local journalist who then sued the city to have it released. The City of Chicago's Police Department has a long and difficult history associated with police brutality reaching back decades.

Community organizer and violence interrupter Ameena Matthews comforts protestor Kirah Moe during a particularly emotional moment while protesting against police brutality in Chicago. Upwards of 500 hundred people marched throughout downtown Chicago on Tuesday, November 24 to protest the police killing of Laquan McDonald at the hands of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke. McDonald was shot sixteen times and the video was withheld from public view until a judge ordered it released. McDonald was holding a small knife but was shot repeatedly in the dashcam video. The family was paid 5 million dollars in a settlement with the City of Chicago, but yesterday officer Van Dyke was also charged with murder after a whistleblower brought the video to the attention of a local journalist who then sued the city to have it released. The City of Chicago's Police Department has a long and difficult history associated with police brutality reaching back decades.

Roll call. 75th and Dorchester. Sircon Neighborhod. Chicago's South Side.

In ‘Chi-Raq’ more young people have died in the past five years than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. There still is not one trauma unit anywhere on the South Side, despite the fact that the city leads the country in the number of homicides, with the majority occurring south of the Loop. As often follows with arrests, incarceration tends to ensue. As a result, more than 100,000 people go through the doors of Chicago’s Cook County Jail each year. However, many of these young men and women are blind to how the city’s methodical and systematic control of land, divides their neighborhoods into war zones. This, results in wars with each other, in a seemingly endless loop of “survival”.

Although the violence is consistently reported in the news, to understand what’s at stake we must look far deeper than the latest crime scene. It’s vital that we also show the immense waste of human potential that’s being lost with each violent act. While the violence that has spread to many of Chicago’s most economically depressed neighborhoods is in all ways real, the never ending focus on the violence obscures a larger and far more significant truth: that the wholesale neglect has led to the practical destruction of these communities. 

The combination of the large scale industrial meltdown, political disinvestment, and the failure of the war on poverty during the 1970’s and 80’s led to communities like Chicago’s South Side falling on extremely hard times. Today, the failure of the war on poverty is clearly evident. The poverty rate for the majority African-Americans stands at 32.6 percent, the highest for the ten largest American cities, according to Chicago Muckrakers. The aftermath is evidenced by failing schools, inadequate public healthcare, mass foreclosures in the form of abandoned and decaying buildings, widespread, but rarely seen hunger, drug use, Post Traumatic Stress Disord

Roll call. 75th and Dorchester. Sircon Neighborhod. Chicago's South Side.In ‘Chi-Raq’ more young people have died in the past five years than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. There still is not one trauma unit anywhere on the South Side, despite the fact that the city leads the country in the number of homicides, with the majority occurring south of the Loop. As often follows with arrests, incarceration tends to ensue. As a result, more than 100,000 people go through the doors of Chicago’s Cook County Jail each year. However, many of these young men and women are blind to how the city’s methodical and systematic control of land divides their neighborhoods into war zones. This results in wars with each other, in a seemingly endless loop of “survival”. Although the violence is consistently reported in the news, to understand what’s at stake we must look far deeper than the latest crime scene. It’s vital that we also show the immense waste of human potential that’s being lost with each violent act. While the violence that has spread to many of Chicago’s most economically depressed neighborhoods is in all ways real, the never ending focus on the violence obscures a larger and far more significant truth: that the wholesale neglect has led to the practical destruction of these communities. The combination of the large scale industrial meltdown, political disinvestment, and the failure of the war on poverty during the 1970’s and 80’s led to communities like Chicago’s South Side falling on extremely hard times. Today, the failure of the war on poverty is clearly evident. The poverty rate for the majority African-Americans stands at 32.6 percent, the highest for the ten largest American cities, according to Chicago Muckrakers. The aftermath is evidenced by failing schools, inadequate public healthcare, mass foreclosures in the form of abandoned and decaying buildings, widespread, but rarely seen hunger, drug use, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and more.

Amanda Jackson consoles Sheena Hancock at the site of her sister Janeen’s murder in Merrill Park in the Jeffrey Manor neighborhood. Two more people were shot and killed in the same incident on that July evening. 2012

Amanda Jackson consoles Sheena Hancock at the site of her sister Janeen’s murder in Merrill Park in the Jeffrey Manor neighborhood. Two more people were shot and killed in the same incident on that July evening. 2012

Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X. Candy Store. South Side of Chicago

‘Chi-Raq’ more young people have died in the past five years than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. There still is not one trauma unit anywhere on the South Side, despite the fact that the city leads the country in the number of homicides, with the majority occurring south of the Loop. As often follows with arrests, incarceration tends to ensue. As a result, more than 100,000 people go through the doors of Chicago’s Cook County Jail each year. However, many of these young men and women are blind to how the city’s methodical and systematic control of land, divides their neighborhoods into war zones. This, results in wars with each other, in a seemingly endless loop of “survival”.

Although the violence is consistently reported in the news, to understand what’s at stake we must look far deeper than the latest crime scene. It’s vital that we also show the immense waste of human potential that’s being lost with each violent act. While the violence that has spread to many of Chicago’s most economically depressed neighborhoods is in all ways real, the never ending focus on the violence obscures a larger and far more significant truth: that the wholesale neglect has led to the practical destruction of these communities. 

The combination of the large scale industrial meltdown, political disinvestment, and the failure of the war on poverty during the 1970’s and 80’s led to communities like Chicago’s South Side falling on extremely hard times. Today, the failure of the war on poverty is clearly evident. The poverty rate for the majority African-Americans stands at 32.6 percent, the highest for the ten largest American cities, according to Chicago Muckrakers. The aftermath is evidenced by failing schools, inadequate public healthcare, mass foreclosures in the form of abandoned and decaying buildings, widespread, but rarely seen hunger, drug use, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and unusu

Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X. Candy Store. South Side of Chicago. In ‘Chi-Raq’ more young people have died in the past five years than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. There still is not one trauma unit anywhere on the South Side, despite the fact that the city leads the country in the number of homicides, with the majority occurring south of the Loop. As often follows with arrests, incarceration tends to ensue. As a result, more than 100,000 people go through the doors of Chicago’s Cook County Jail each year. However, many of these young men and women are blind to how the city’s methodical and systematic control of land divides their neighborhoods into war zones. This results in wars with each other, in a seemingly endless loop of “survival”. Although the violence is consistently reported in the news, to understand what’s at stake we must look far deeper than the latest crime scene. It’s vital that we also show the immense waste of human potential that’s being lost with each violent act. While the violence that has spread to many of Chicago’s most economically depressed neighborhoods is in all ways real, the never ending focus on the violence obscures a larger and far more significant truth: that the wholesale neglect has led to the practical destruction of these communities. The combination of the large scale industrial meltdown, political disinvestment, and the failure of the war on poverty during the 1970’s and 80’s led to communities like Chicago’s South Side falling on extremely hard times. Today, the failure of the war on poverty is clearly evident. The poverty rate for the majority African-Americans stands at 32.6 percent, the highest for the ten largest American cities, according to Chicago Muckrakers. The aftermath is evidenced by failing schools, inadequate public healthcare, mass foreclosures in the form of abandoned and decaying buildings, widespread, but rarely seen hunger, drug use, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and more.

Artist Statement

Jon Lowenstein specializes in long-term, in-depth documentary explorations that confront the realms of power, poverty, and social violence. Through the integral combination of photography, moving images, experiential prose and personal testimonials, he strives for unsparing clarity by revealing the subjects of history that lack voice.

The body of work featured in Violence Transformed comes from South Side, a long-term documentary exploration of Chicago's South Side. The work incorporates imagery and short experimental films examining the legacy of segregation, the impact of vast wealth inequality and how deindustrialization and globalization plays out on the ground in Chicago.

Documentary Trailer

The Advocate is a feature documentary film by Jon Lowenstein following the journey of Jedidiah Brown, a Black advocate fighting for a new America. It's currently in the process of crowdfunding to be finished and released!

A link to the GoFund Me campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/f2wm9-the-advocate

The film's website: https://www.theadvocatefilm.com/ 

A link to the larger body of work from South Side: http://www.jonlowenstein.com/southside