Roseland Portrait Project paints new image of Far South Side
CHICAGO - Can art be used to change a neighborhood’s reputation for violence and poverty? John Bakker certainly thinks so.
He’s the Chicago artist behind the Roseland Portrait Project. With each stroke of his brush, he’s painting a different image of what it means to be in the Far South Side neighborhood.
"Five hundred years ago, the only people who got their portraits painted were kings," said Bakker. That’s because they thought that they were significant enough to demand that kind of attention."
It took Bakker up to five hours to paint each face featured in the Roseland Portrait Project. His message is that everyone is equal and everyone matters, no matter how much social status they have or how much money they make.
"You could be homeless, or you could be Anthony Beal who’s in the project, the alderman from this neighborhood," said Bakker. "And guess what? It takes the same amount of time to paint Tony Beal as it does Chris Bratt. For me, that’s an assertion that everybody matters."
The mural is housed at Roseland Christian Ministries on 109th and Michigan Avenue. It was created to honor 16-year-old Andre Taylor, who was tragically gunned down in 2016. Andre was an active member of the Roseland Christian Ministries, where Corey Hardiman was his mentor.
"Andre was a very bright young man," said Hardiman. "A young man who was very inspirational and had big dreams and big goals. Andre would’ve been just like me on this board. A young man who grew up in Roseland went off to college and is doing something with this life. So, to think about the tragedy that happened. But transpired to triumph, to show other young people that there is still hope in a community that sometimes is hopeless. "
Hardiman and Taylor are two of the 397 faces that represent the Roseland community in the mural. They’re joined by business owners, teachers, aldermen, police officers and people experiencing homelessness. Each portrait is accompanied by a biography which helps paint the picture of what it means to call Roseland home.
"Every one of these people loves their kids," said Bakker. "They get up and go to work every morning and send their kids to school. It’s just an ordinary neighborhood, just like any other neighborhood. But that’s not the story that the news media has told about Roseland. What the news media has done is focus on the violence. And of course that happens. But these people are all ordinary people. And there’s this vibrant life in the community. And that’s what I hope they see."