Jon Lowenstein - Untitled

From 2001 - 2005 i spent four years teaching, photographing and just getting to know what life means at the Paul Revere Elementary School in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The school served as a central hub for the mostly African-American community. While the neighborhod had suffered serious setbacks due to deindustrialization, segregation and economic inequality I found a tough, resilient and loving community which consistently took care of itself. So many good memories remain from that time. In the intervening years I have continued to document life in my adopted neighborhood in Chicago creating a series of artistic endeavors aimed at engaging deeply with the deep heartbeat of America. This grid of original C prints is from an installation of the Exhibition shown at the Giola Gallery in 2006.