Uploaded May 2011 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Original project at: http://www.emphas.is/web/guest/discoverprojects?projectID=310
From Justin: I step foot into a familiar place, with ragged cushions and a dark stained carpet. Scattered children's toys. This landscape is comfortable, but the sounds coming from within are alien. A clash of familiar faces. A poison cocktail of screams. High-pitch crying mixed with deeper bass roar. A young woman holds a kitchen knife, threatening her baby's father. Family pries them apart. Knife falls, then her fists fly in repetition. He never strikes back. She picks up an empty beer bottle, swings at his head. It's deflected. I'm a breath's distance away, heart pounding, witnessing.
During three years documenting Chester, I learned it is a place where socio-economic issues, compounded by a history of government corruption, have revealed the community to be a microcosm of the festering wounds of racism. Chester is a place where pollution hinders cognitive development, violence is common place, poverty is oppressive and jobs virtually non-existent. The most grime statistic is the 300 unsolved murder cases since the mid-nineties.
With so many unsolved murders, there is a need for a campaign against violence: a unified movement of people who want to create real change. With funding, I will create a list of 50-100 families who have family members on the list of unsolved murders and take their portrait with a large-format camera. Each image will be printed on a poster to be used during a rally against violence, where all will stand together in solidarity.
I have established ties with community groups, who have already taken steps to address this violence. I will work with the Women of Strength United for Change, a local advocacy group, to organize the rally, where activists can teach tangible ways of overcoming violence. Most importantly, reoccurring workshops would be designed after the rally to keep the momentum sustained. The protest is the first step in a series to create change in the community. Down the road, I plan to continue to be involved in this process of combating violence in Chester, such as having interactive exhibitions in the community, along with holding lectures in many colleges in neighboring more affluent communities.
Your support will help a community that has long been disenfranchised. It will help build a power base to create change.
This project must be completely funded by the 21st of June, 2011 in order to receive contributions.
http://www.emphas.is
Emphas.is is a platform for photojournalism that offers a unique bond between photojournalists and their audience, and in the process aims to create a new financial model for photojournalism in the 21st century.
Original project at: http://www.emphas.is/web/guest/discoverprojects?projectID=310
From Justin: I step foot into a familiar place, with ragged cushions and a dark stained carpet. Scattered children's toys. This landscape is comfortable, but the sounds coming from within are alien. A clash of familiar faces. A poison cocktail of screams. High-pitch crying mixed with deeper bass roar. A young woman holds a kitchen knife, threatening her baby's father. Family pries them apart. Knife falls, then her fists fly in repetition. He never strikes back. She picks up an empty beer bottle, swings at his head. It's deflected. I'm a breath's distance away, heart pounding, witnessing.
During three years documenting Chester, I learned it is a place where socio-economic issues, compounded by a history of government corruption, have revealed the community to be a microcosm of the festering wounds of racism. Chester is a place where pollution hinders cognitive development, violence is common place, poverty is oppressive and jobs virtually non-existent. The most grime statistic is the 300 unsolved murder cases since the mid-nineties.
With so many unsolved murders, there is a need for a campaign against violence: a unified movement of people who want to create real change. With funding, I will create a list of 50-100 families who have family members on the list of unsolved murders and take their portrait with a large-format camera. Each image will be printed on a poster to be used during a rally against violence, where all will stand together in solidarity.
I have established ties with community groups, who have already taken steps to address this violence. I will work with the Women of Strength United for Change, a local advocacy group, to organize the rally, where activists can teach tangible ways of overcoming violence. Most importantly, reoccurring workshops would be designed after the rally to keep the momentum sustained. The protest is the first step in a series to create change in the community. Down the road, I plan to continue to be involved in this process of combating violence in Chester, such as having interactive exhibitions in the community, along with holding lectures in many colleges in neighboring more affluent communities.
Your support will help a community that has long been disenfranchised. It will help build a power base to create change.
This project must be completely funded by the 21st of June, 2011 in order to receive contributions.
http://www.emphas.is
Emphas.is is a platform for photojournalism that offers a unique bond between photojournalists and their audience, and in the process aims to create a new financial model for photojournalism in the 21st century.
