community
...heir joys, their hopes for the future. As an insider you know the struggles of the community. As on outsider looking in, you are only able to view the community through the images that the media presents to you. On the evening news there is a report of shooting on the Westside of Chicago. The reporter is live on the scene and behind her you see the same images that are on every corner of the typical African American community. There is a church and within the same block there is a liquor store and a funeral home. Oftentimes the church is the only place that is controlled by someone within that community and beyond those doors another path is clearly laid out. The outsider looking in sees the layout of the neighborhood as something that is chosen by the inhabitants of the community. The fortunate insider looking around sees the layout of the neighborhood as a choice: life to the right, death to the left. The unfortunate insider who does not look around does not even realize that there is a choice to be made. The photographs are intended to give a realistic view of an urban community while also giving the viewer and opportunity to examine their personal stereotypes and misconceptions. The images are taken in black and white to portray a somber mo...