Chicago bus shelters showcase portraits of unsung neighborhood heroes

CHICAGO - Art galleries can be found on the streets of Chicago this summer. All you have to do is look around, while waiting for the bus.

You might say, people are moved by the art. Wait for a CTA bus and you just might meet a hero.

The Unsung Heroes of Uptown are featured on bus shelters around the city.

Portraits, plus a QR code that connects the viewer to a detailed Chicago story.

Conceptual artist Hana Bleue Chaussette met each person, heard their story, recorded, painted them and brought them to the streets.

"I thought this is perfect," Chausette said. "I was doing a series of interviewing people from all over this city who I think are remarkable but uncelebrated and I thought what better place could there be than a bus shelter tobring art into the streets."

Thirty-one bus shelters around Chicago tell a hero’s journey.

Yman Huang Vien co-founded Chinese Mutual Aid Association 40 years ago with her father. She was one of the people featured in bus shelters. She said her story is about the journey of going to freedom.

She is the president of a financial institution, but if you scan the QR code on the artwork, it reveals she nearly died escaping Vietnam in the 1970s as a teenager, living in refugee camps until reaching Chicago.

Looking at her portrait she said, "Even though after 40-some years knowing about my story, when I read it, I still have tears. I was so touched."

Now she helps thousands of immigrants and refugees as the co-founder of Chinese Mutual Aid Association.

"People forget about the history, forget the struggling of any individuals who comes as refugees and immigrants. This is more like a reminder that everybody has a story," she said.

Chaussette said she hopes the public will connect to the stories.

"I’m really trying to encourage people to see each other in a different way. To go behind the label to see people for who they are, who we are inside. And this is an experience that awakens that curiosity, I think," Chaussette said.

Tiffany Cathey stopped to admire the art in a bus shelter across from the Daley Center. 

"I can see all the expression in her brush strokes," Cathey said.

The 151 bus stop spotlights a luminary. Yman said she has received positive reviews from people who recognize her portrait, 

"They want to take a picture with me right by the bus station. I’m thrilled," Vien said.

Chaussette hopes people will do less staring at their phones and have more personal interaction. It’s the beauty and the byproduct of the art.

The Unsung Heroes of Uptown will be in bus shelters until August 6th and online indefinitely at Chaussette's website.