I have been assigned to visit the neighborhood of Chicago’s North Lawndale. For this assignment I'm required to view and experience the neighborhood as a tourist-researcher-visitor. As an international student this felt confusing to me. How can I be more tourist-visitor than what I am already in the United States? What can I do to double my outsider role in order to do my assignment?
Before starting the journey, I noticed that I should do what people mostly do before visiting new places. I have to check on several things about the neighborhood. This means doing online research in advance; which will help the person to check on several kind of issues such as: transportation, safety, danger and crimes in the selected area. I wasn’t surprised that the first word suggested by Google to complete the research is the word crime. “north lawndale chicago crime”. Was this just a safety proposition from google? How does this suggestion from Google frame an area as a dangerous place even if it might not?
This made me think of how these public platforms can strengthen problematic stereotypes in a society. What is the healthy limit of protection, guidance or suggestion from platforms like Google? And how do these “safety propositions” become a means for racist behaviours in a society?
Dolores, Kathy, Matt and myself have decided to go for our journey as a group of four students; we met at school downtown on Friday morning at 10. It felt embarrassing when I arrived late and I needed to grab my four-days ticket to Expo-Chicago, so I could go directly there after our trip to North Lawndale. Going from Chicago’s North Lawndale to Expo Chicago sounded like my other school journey assignment on the same day.
We headed to the the blue line train station at 10:15 from school downtown. Going as a group is not only more fun but also safer, especially in such neighborhoods as North Lawndale. We stopped at the Kedzie train stop and walked for 10 minutes from the train stop in the direction of the Homan Square building/tower. It seemed like the tallest building. It looked like a castle tower in the neighborhood. According to their website “SAIC has partnered with the Foundation for Homan Square to bring art and design programming and visiting artists' residency” to engage with the North Lawndale community.
My classmate Nicolas works for the Homan Square. He and the director for the SAIC project at Homan Square, Jaclyn, both have offered us a tour in the center. Both have talked about the center and what it provides for students, artists and the community of North Lawndale.
It was very interesting to listen to Jaclyn about her experience as a director at the center. Its relationship with the community of the neighborhood. She talked about the center’s main approach. Which is to build trust and positive relationship with the community, she pointed on the importance of building something that can go back to develop and help the neighborhood itself. she continued talking about how the center is achieving this approach by noticing how people in the community are identifying with the social projects that the center is implementing.
“How can we be part of justice in the city?” - Jaclyn.
One of the issues that I was wondering about has been discussed also by Jaclyn. About the student’s attitude, how some students of SAIC would be visiting North Lawndale with such a wealthy attitude or being just immature, pretending criticality in the neighborhood. She described these kind of students “as a bunch of downtown students coming to do something in the neighborhood only for business communication for themselves.”
The moment we walked on the edge of Douglas Park. I was using Google to make sure we are walking on the right direction. Although I have no idea what is the right direction, or the wrong direction. I noticed few old men were sitting on park chairs, they smiled and said hello to us. Another old woman was also sitting by herself, we looked at each other, I can’t remember who smiled first but I remember that she said to me loudly: “Isn’t it a nice day.”
Meeting local people in their home as an observer or researcher, receiving Google safety proposition to check on the crimes at this home/neighborhood, these all are connected in my brain and memory to the notion of “the dangerous place” at my home. In Palestine the tourist will have a similar experience while entering the areas that under the Palestinian authority. The tourist in Palestine will be welcomed with a sign hanged by the occupation says: “The Road leads to Area “A” under the Palestinian Authority, The Entrance For Israeli Citizens Is Forbidden, Dangerous To Your Lives And Is Against The Israeli Law”. This how I would think of Google proposition as a political sign. This information would lead to frame and label an area by using the power dynamics. The power of occupation “the state of Israel”. This has led me to question myself about Google power. Wondering who uses this power against specific areas in the United States such as Chicago’s North Lawndale?
After we explored the neighborhood in couple of hours, I headed to my second “school journey”, from North lawndale Chicago to Expo Chicago. Expo Chicago is one of the biggest art fairs in the world. Where you find booths are filled with art from everywhere, hanged and exhibited for collectors and rich people to buy and appreciate them by their prices. Artworks at Expo Chicago are not only categorized by numbers but by the number of their gallery or the artist’s gallery. It’s one of these places where you feel art as a very expensive elite product.
“Do you have [own] any of his [the artist] work?”, this was a question that I surprisingly answered with “no, but I like his work”. This was during visiting one of the art booths. I noticed there was an artwork by On Kawara, who’s one of my favorite artists.
Is this work by On Kawara?
Yes, it is. It looks great. Right?
Do you have any of his work?
Do I have any of On Kawara’s work?
These two school journeys in the same day left me with questioning myself, what is my position as an artist/student visiting these two places. How can I keep transforming my position as an outsider to understand these two communities or fields? How to study these two communities. How to know how to communicate and deal inside these two neighborhoods?
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