Bearing witness: A project on memory, community and the 2013 Chicago School Closings.

Overton Elementary

"This is a building that could be put to good use, putting our students back in the building, Putting them back in there and giving them the things that they need to learn -- to get an education."

My friend, photographer Riza Falk and her collaborators Lara Leigh Kelland, and Oriana Erskine working with student interns at Erie Neighborhood House developed this project. The So Close to Ghost Project is sponsored by the Visionaries program in the Youth Options Unlimited (YOU) department at Erie Neighborhood House, the History Department at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Students looked at their closed neighborhood schools through the camera lens and created portraits and a video of student, parent and community voices to tell their story.