Faces of Homelessness by Jeffrey Wolin

The homeless crisis can be seen across America, in small towns and major cities, on the streets and in shelters. While some people are homeless due to drug/alcohol addiction or mental health issues, an overwhelming percentage are in this situation due to the loss of a job, domestic violence, divorce, sudden medical expenses, lack of affordable housing, and homophobia. And then there are the invisible homeless – families staying in hotels, with relatives, or couch surfing among friends. Wolin worked with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless to understand the situation, mindful to present all aspects. His interactions took him from the viaducts under Lake Shore Drive, to Venice Beach in Los Angeles, and to newly rented apartments. Working in Chicago and Los Angeles, Wolin continues to honor people’s lives through their own words, helping us understand issues often unfamiliar or ignored.

Maxica W, who said: “Three years ago I had a double mastectomy and 16 nodes removed from my left arm. I had 6 months of chemotherapy. I was in the process of buying a house but had to use the money for my chemo. e ended up at Olive Branch Mission Shelter. We had our own room but it had no doors. During that time I cared for my kids, took them to school each day. I’ll graduate in May 2019 with a degree in Business Administration and then go on for my Masters. I want to work with homeless and cancer survivors to help them deal with their problems and to pay back what people did for me.”

Jeffrey Wolin: Faces of Homelessness
Catherine Edelman Gallery

December 10 through February 5, 2022

Catherine Edelman Gallery | 1637 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622

CEG, in collaboration with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, will be hosting panel discussions and smaller exhibitions throughout the city in 2022.

Jeffrey A. Wolin

was the Ruth N. Halls Professor Emeritus of Photography at Indiana University until he retired in 2016. Wolin’s photographs have been exhibited in over 100 exhibitions in the US and Europe, including solo shows at the Art Institute of Chicago, International Center of Photography in New York, George Eastman Museum in Rochester and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and group exhibitions at MoMA, Whitney Museum, and LA County Museum of Art.

His photographs are in the permanent collections of numerous museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO), Cleveland Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX),  Art Institute of Chicago, New York Public Library, George Eastman Museum (Rochester, NY), Whitney Museum of American Ar  (New York, NY),  Bibliotèque Nationale de France (Paris, France), and Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY).

Wolin’s work is included in dozens of books including six monographs:Written in Memory: Portraits of the Holocaust Chronicle Books, San Francisco; Inconvenient Stories: Vietnam War Veterans, Umbrage Editions, New York; Pigeon Hill: Then & Now, Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg & Berlin. His newest book, Portraits of Homlessness [KehrerVerlag] will be available in late 2021/early 2022.

Wolin is the recipient of two Visual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship. 

Jeffrey A. Wolin is Ruth N. Halls Professor Emeritus of Photography at Indiana University. Wolin’s photographs have been exhibited in over 100 exhibitions in the US and Europe, including solo shows at the Art Institute of Chicago, International Center of Photography in New York, George Eastman Museum in Rochester and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and group exhibitions at MoMA, Whitney Museum, and LA County Museum of Art.

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