Marzena Abrahamik & Justin Schmitz at Michele Clark High School
Project Overview
Marzena Abrahamik and Justin Schmitz worked together to create images for the athletic teams and clubs at Michele Clark High School. The work was originally conceived to provide the staff images for their yearbook layouts. Working together, they created images that would elevate the standard yearbook photograph into something more dramatic and memorable. These photographs made in the context of the CPS Lives Residency take on another life when presented outside the yearbook context. Our intention is to to inspire positive social change by creating an archive of empowering portraits.
Meet the Artist
Justin Schmitz
Justin Schmitz is a Chicago-based photographer. He is the recipient of the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship, The Tierney Fellowship, City of Chicago CAAP Grant, Albert P. Weisman Scholarship, and The Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Scholarship. A collection of his work was part of the Mid-West Photographers Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. He was runner-up for the Photography Book Now Prize, and a finalist for the Honickman First Book Prize.
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Justin Schmitz is a Chicago-based photographer. He is the recipient of the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship, The Tierney Fellowship, City of Chicago CAAP Grant, Albert P. Weisman Scholarship, and The Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Scholarship. A collection of his work was part of the Mid-West Photographers Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. He was runner-up for the Photography Book Now Prize, and a finalist for the Honickman First Book Prize.
Visit their Website
Meet the Artist
Marzena Abrahamik
Image Credit Marzena Abrahamik
I am an American artist, driven by photography’s ability to change our visual sensibility. I am visually inspired by personal histories, attachments to unachievable and necessary for survival fantasies, to further investigate communal formations and transformations. I work through photographic series where images are anchored in historical and autobiographical events. My cultural heritage informs me as an artist and educator, and my biography is a motivating resource that provides insight and empathy to otherwise abstracted issues. I was born in Poland, grew up in Greece and for the past ten years, I have been working as a professional artist and educator in Chicago, IL.
http://www.marzena-abrahamik.com
Visit their WebsiteI am an American artist, driven by photography’s ability to change our visual sensibility. I am visually inspired by personal histories, attachments to unachievable and necessary for survival fantasies, to further investigate communal formations and transformations. I work through photographic series where images are anchored in historical and autobiographical events. My cultural heritage informs me as an artist and educator, and my biography is a motivating resource that provides insight and empathy to otherwise abstracted issues. I was born in Poland, grew up in Greece and for the past ten years, I have been working as a professional artist and educator in Chicago, IL.
http://www.marzena-abrahamik.com
Visit their Website
Image Credit Marzena Abrahamik
