Back of the Yards


  • Photographer
    Megan E. Doherty
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2013-2016

Documenting the last remaining member of a tiny street ministry that works with gangs in Chicago.

Story

Beyond the headlines of the notoriously high gun and gang violence in Chicago, there is the debilitating loss of human capital in many communities of the South and West Sides. For over three years now, I have been documenting the work done in one South Side neighborhood, Back of the Yards, by a small street ministry that tends to those involved in - and victimized by - gang violence and urban poverty.

Jim Fogarty, known affectionately as "Brother Jim," wears a hand-sewn habit made out of scraps of denim, now tattered after over 30 years of use. That's how long he's been traversing the dangerous streets by foot, carrying only rosary beads to pass out - that, and offering prayers, and maybe a little hope. By now, the residents largely all know who he is, asking him to pray for them. Once upon a time, he stood between warring gangs shooting at each other, risking his life. Now, they ask him for rosaries.

In an effort to neither whitewash nor sensationalize, I've taken care to attend to all those moments that, while difficult or simply mundane and easy to ignore, are also sublimely beautiful.

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