SSHMP & the Arts Lawn - 2nd Look

Films featured in the exhibit. These clips are accompanied by a piece from the soundtrack Rae Chardonnay created for the exhibit: “I Am the Black Gold of the Sun” by Minnie Riperton + Rotary Connection. More information below.

Choosing our Frames

The South Side Home Movie Project is home to millions of frames that capture countless moments. How were we ever going to select only seven?

The curatorial process began by asking each curator to explore with the Archive on their own and select a handful of stills that engage with the idea of Public Space. The range of resulting images was a testament to the breadth of the Archive and the ability for each individual to relate with it through the lens of their own unique experiences.

For example, Ms. Foreman drew from her own family’s Patton Collection, the films she knows best. As someone who hails from the West Side of Chicago, Rae was drawn to the depictions of connections between the South and West sides of the city, including the Green Line and Garfield Park Conservatory. Justina, a current high schooler, brought a lively photo of a graduation ceremony to the table. Each photo became precious because of the intimate interaction between the individual curator and the Archive.

Fiinding a Theme

The next step was to create a space where these individual interactions could engage and converse with each other. The resulting conversation between individual curators and their images would, ultimately, pare down the collection to seven images for the exhibit. This was, perhaps, the hardest step of the process. Each image had become so precious that deleting any single one seemed impossible. Not to mention, the entire process had to be conducted online, over Zoom.

Only in hours of conversation did our new priorities as a community of curators begin to emerge. Certain images resonated with us immediately while others were caught our attention only when placed next to each other; for example, the unexplainable tenderness captured in the image of the little girl from the Frazier Collection was reflected and amplified by the image of the little boy gently resting his head in the Steele Collection. Through this curation process, we had created a new and unique space for these images to grow and be re-examined.

Preparing the Films

While most people interact with the films in the Project’s Collection through the online Archive, it’s important to remember that these videos begin with the physical film itself -- palm-sized reels where a couple seconds of footage translates into hundreds of feet of film. The Project stores all its films in a climate-controlled vault to protect from otherwise rapid deterioration. This digitization process is a testament to the Project’s ability to physically preserve the film so that new life can continue to be generated.

Out of a million moments captured in each reel, the specific frame in each film was identified and re-scanned. The higher quality scan allows for each image to be blown up in size without compromising the quality of the image. The seven images were then printed as the curatorial statement was put together. The Project’s Archivist Justin Williams worked to enlarge each frame, originally standing at 8 millimeters tall, into a banner that would fit an entire fence.

The Final Selections

The final set of images was selected because they spoke to one another in this space we had created. what love looks like in public eventually came out of an exploration of scale between the set of images. How do we experience Public Space not only through large gatherings but within the intimate moments we share with loved ones as well?

Mounting the Exhibit on the Block

Once the banners were complete, the full exhibit was finally revealed at the Back on the Block celebration hosted by Arts + Public Life; the images were given new life once again. Never had these Collection Images been enlarged and displayed on Garfield Boulevard. The banners were also accompanied by the works of two South Side artists --Rose Blouin and Edo. Music and conversations filled the air as people excitedly took pictures with the exhibit.

This story of curation traces a general process: individual intimate experiences that are then constantly re-created as they are put into conversation with new contexts. This is hopefully reflective of the ultimate goals of the upcoming Arts Lawn; a public space should be a space that simultaneously respects each individual intimate history that enters as well as encourage the creation of new life and experiences. The same values apply to the SSHMP; the Project’s aims to both preserve and exhibit home movies ensure that the Archive is always brought to new life with each and every individual interaction.

We encourage you to visit the Arts Block and the featured artists, including what love looks like in public, until the opening of the Arts Lawn in the summer of 2022.

More to explore

Additional Projects

SSHMP has previously engaged with the idea of Public Space through the Everyday Resistance exhibit series. In particular, the conversation around Parks as Contested Spaces was a chance to learn about the ways parks and access to rest, safety, and leisure have been politicized.

Soundtrack by Rae Chardonnay

Listen to co-curator Rae Chardonnay’s song mix inspired by the images in this installation, featuring donor oral history recording clips from Lynette Frazier (July 23 2007) and Susan and Ellis McClelland (February 17 2008), courtesy South Side Home Movie Project.