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December 27

Denise Poloyac

• 2 min read
December 27
2024: Having Fun with the Umbrella. Taken on Lincoln at Leland in Chicago.

It was another gray, drizzly day, so I did a short quick walk where I was most likely going to see people out and about – which meant another walk up Lincoln. This girl was having just the best time with her umbrella. After taking this photo, I followed behind her and her family as they walked up the street hoping that she would turn around again for another photo. Instead the family stopped in front of a migrant mother and daughter. This girl's father handed her a wrapped present which she then gave to the girl who was there with her mother and was about the same age. It was such a sweet gesture, and felt too intimate to photograph. In a year when so many migrants came to Chicago, and many were unhoused, sleeping in police stations, and unable to work, I didn't take any of these photos either, or at least not of any of the people. It is possible to document those experiences with photographs in a way that is sensitve and respectful, but that requires time and engagement, that I didn't have. So instead, we have the stories without the photos.

2020: No more disrespect. Taken on Michigan Ave at 35th Street in Chicago. Only after pressure, the City finally released a video of a raid at a home a few years ago, where the officers broke into the wrong house and made Anjanette Young sit naked and handcuffed for 46 minutes while she pleaded with them that they had the wrong house. The City then tried to keep the video from being public -- and Young released it since it was the only way to draw attention to the way that Blacks, other people of color and women are treated by the police in Chicago. Today there was a rally and protest at CPD Headquarters.
2018: From my porch. Taken at home on Hamlin in Chicago. I am ending my year with a whimper. I didn’t feel well today and it poured all day with a lot of wind. So the best I could do was to step out on the porch in back and take this when I saw the cardinal from my upstairs window.
2016: Up high. Taken on Fulton between Racine and Ashland in Chicago
2012: Open for Dinner. Taken on Clark Street north of Farragut

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