Kenn Cook Jr. Shares His West Side Story

Written by Vocalo Radio on May 3, 2024

Chicago photographer Kenn Cook Jr. highlights the beauty of his West Side neighbors with new project #MyWestSideStory.

It wasn’t until he moved away that Kenn Cook Jr. realized just how special his home on the West Side is.

Raised in Humboldt Park and Austin, Cook left Illinois as an adult. But in 2020, a newly-married Cook returned to the state — where he reflected on how much he missed the West Side, and how leaving contributed to larger cycles of community neglect.

“By moving, I was part of a problem that’s been perpetuated for many years,” he said. “When people get a little success or make a little money, they move from the West Side, leaving future generations to not have someone that looks like them, that’s successful … living here and making a life here.”

^{Kenn Cook Jr. was born and raised on Chicago’s West Side. Ari Mejia | Vocalo Radio}

Returning to the Austin neighborhood, Cook began working with local organizations like the NAACP in efforts to change the negative stigmas associated with the West Side. With photography, he feels he’s found his true niche for community advocacy.

Inspired by luminaries such as Gordon Parks and Latoya Ruby Frazier — as well as his late father, who was also a photographer — Cook’s work is a masterful blend of artistry and narrative, transcending mere image and capturing the essence of his community. His project #MyWestSideStory celebrates the culture of the West Side but also urges residents to take a stand and resist displacement. He spotlights West Side everyday life and culture with hopes to fight gentrification and dispel harmful stereotypes.

“I want to combat those tales where people feel like they can’t live on the West Side,” he said. “There’s a lot of good here on the West Side of Chicago.”

^{Man waits for CTA train at Central green line stop. Kenn Cook Jr., provided}

Cook grew up surrounded by the “Southern culture” and hospitality of the West Side. All the while his father was taking photos, immortalizing his family and their community in the prints that would later inspire Cook to pick up the camera himself. Looking through old photos on a 2020 trip to his mother’s house, Cook was struck by his father’s work as a testament to community connection — and almost immediately purchased his own camera.

“I’m looking through these images, and I’m just reliving moments. I’m seeing people holding me as a baby that I’ve never met before,” he recalled. “I’m like, ‘Man, this is… life-changing for me, because I’m connecting with people that I don’t remember meeting … This is powerful. This is historical.’”

Cook took up photography as a means of sharing a glimpse into the intimacies of his life and his community. He showcases the spirit of the West Side with rich, authentic portraits of everyday life, and hopes to encourage future generations to continue the community’s culture and keep fighting for positive change.

“What I want you to feel when you look at my work is that I spend time with this person, that this is their authentic self,” he noted. “They’re not trying to be who they’re not, but this person feels comfortable enough with me to … let me into who they really are, and I’m able to photograph them in an authentic way that amplifies their true voice.”

Cook hopes to produce a zine and eventually a book and exhibition for #MyWestSideStory, creating a tangible, authentic, long-lasting documentation of Chicago’s West Side.

“I want to show people that there’s beauty here, even in the mundane things,” he said. “There’s a lot of beauty on the West Side.”

For this segment of This Is What Chicago Sounds Like, Cook broke down his photography project #MyWestSideStory and the importance of community investment.

“I’ve been in multiple newspapers, but that lady from my community … she loves what I’m doing and it’s moving her heart. That’s one of the biggest accomplishments I’ve had in my work so far.”

– Kenn Cook. Jr.

Where are you from?

I grew up in Humboldt Park, and went to Clemente. But now, people will say Humboldt Park is a part of the West Side. Maybe they wouldn’t have said that when I was growing up. So I always say now that I’m born and raised on the West Side. I moved to the West Side, when I was about 10 years old, in the Austin community. I spent most of my life here, went out to Los Angeles for a bit and Las Vegas. Then, after getting married, I moved to Madison, Illinois, south suburbs. That’s when I really started to get my true love for the West Side. When I moved to Madison, I just realized how much of it I missed. And then just really starting to realize, by moving, I was part of a problem that’s been perpetuated for many years. There’s disinvestment in the West Side, overall. When people get a little success or make a little money, they move from the West Side, leaving future generations to not have someone that looks like them, that’s successful. Someone that looks like them, that’s living here and making a life here. I think when all the people who become successful leave, then it leaves a hole in our community.

I live on the West Side because I want to live here. It’s not like we couldn’t live anywhere else. I want to be here, I want to be an example. I want to be able to let people see that you can live here and build a life here and raise a family. I got my son who’s five months, Pharaoh, and he’s going to be raised on the West Side. I’m excited about that.

^{Cook seeks promote investment in West Side communities through photography. Ari Mejia | Vocalo Radio}

How did you become a photographer?

My father did photography, and he wasn’t a famous photographer or anything but he was special to me. That’s my dad. He would just take pictures of our family moments. He passed away a few years ago. I got married in 2020, so me and my wife, we went to my mom’s house, and we’re just going through old photos. Before then, I had not picked up a camera myself. I had never really thought about it. I’m looking through these images, and I’m just reliving moments, I’m seeing people holding me as a baby that I’ve never met before. My mom’s telling me who these people are, but I’m just seeing the power in that imagery. I’m like, “Man, this is really… This is life-changing for me, because I’m connecting with people that I don’t remember meeting, or family members I had never met before … Man, this is powerful. This is historical.” From there, I started to like, I want to start taking pictures.

I got a camera, I think I got a Rebel T8i, like a Canon entry-level camera. Then I started watching documentaries about photography, and it was called Strong Black Lens. And it’s a group of Black photographers, and they’re sitting around a table and they’re just talking about photography from the aspect of a Black photographer. I just really learned the responsibility of having a camera. The way they use that to implement change into the world, I said I want to be a part of this, and I can do this. I’m already connected to my community, I’ve already felt passionate about my community. I’ve been working with NAACP here. But I always felt like I’m a part of something, but I didn’t have my thing where, what am I adding that can really make a difference? I mean, NAACP is making a difference, and they’re making policy changes, but I didn’t feel like that was my thing. But for photography, I felt like that was my thing.

^{Car parked outside of Studio89Kicks on Madison St. Kenn Cook Jr., provided}

What inspires you and your work?

I was inspired by my community to really share the intimacies of my life. Because people here have that real Southern culture vibe, that hospitality on the West Side. People take care of one another. I want to share that through my work, but also want to encourage us for future generations to keep that culture going. Because there is some parts where people are starting to get away from it. I mean, the news and the media, they spew all these tales about the West Side and it feels so dangerous, or people are scared to leave their homes and I think that people are scared to interact with each other the way they need to. In the same sense, I want to combat that disinvestment with my work, I want to combat gentrification. Also, I want to combat those tales where people feel like they can’t live on the West Side.

There’s things happening that’s dangerous and violent, and that’s every community across the country, across the world. There’s a lot of good here on the West Side of Chicago, there’s so many organizations that I get to cover, like Jehovah Jireh. I work with the West Side NAACP, NAEFI, Westside Health Authority. These are communities that are coming together, working together within the community, to help make the community better. These are people from the community who live here, who were raised here, and they’re looking to change the narrative. That’s what I’m looking to do in my work.

Describe for us what your photos are like.

I think that’s one of the biggest things that’s happening here: People just don’t feel seen, they don’t feel heard. I have relationships with the subjects that I’m photographing. What I want you to feel when you look at my work is that I spend time with this person, that this is their authentic self, that they’re not posing, over-posing. They’re not trying to be who they’re not, but this person feels comfortable enough with me to let me into their space, let me into who they really are, and I’m able to photograph them in an authentic way that amplifies their true voice.

^{Young girl playing in a fountain at one of many parks on Chicago’s West Side. Kenn Cook Jr., provided}

Is photography also your day job?

I work for The Culture, which is a news outlet here in Austin. We do newspapers and we cover flood victims, from people whose houses flooded a year ago. Before I took any pictures of them, asked me, I went out with my editor, Michael Romain, who’s the editor of the Culture, we went in together and we just spent time talking, and getting to know them. People were just, man, just saying what they’re going through their whole life. We sat down with this lady, I mean, she told her story. She’s been living in Austin for 40, over 40 years, and she’s told a story from 40 years ago about Austin, but I’m able to really capture that, encapsulate that in the images, because now I’m getting to know you, I’m spending time and that’s want I want people to feel when they see my [work] is that this is a real person.

What is the goal for #MyWestSideStory?

I think my whole goal, for my West Side project and my work, is to give people access to that humanity. The name of my project that I’m currently working on is #MyWestSideStory. I want a roll-out, a zine roll-out, I want to give it to the community. I want to do an exhibition where people, we have it on the West Side, people from all over can come, but I want to have West Siders come and see themselves and then finally, just make it into a book, something that’s tangible that everyone can have. It can sit on their coffee table, and really just experience that piece of the West Side and have that with them. I want to show people that there’s beauty here, even in the mundane things, that there’s a lot of beauty on the West Side.

We have the Austin Town Hall, we have the Golden Dome, there’s the Conservatory, there’s so much here. I want to highlight those places in the parts of the book and the exhibition. I was shooting an event the other day, maybe like a week ago, there was this gun violence prevention event I was shooting. This lady just came up to me, she’s like, “I love what you’re doing with your photos. I love what you’re doing for the community. It’s moving my heart.”

That’s the reason why I do what I do. It’s not for personal glorification. I mean, of course, I want to be amplified so the voices that I’m trying to give a space to can be amplified. But just people seeing it and feeling inspired, that moved me. That was one of my favorite moments. I mean, I’ve had my work featured in Jet magazine. I’ve been in multiple newspapers, but that lady from my community, Sandy, she loves what I’m doing and it’s moving her heart. That’s one of the biggest accomplishments I’ve had in my work so far.

^{#MyWestSideStory. Kenn Cook Jr., provided}

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