The Advocate is a virtual exhibition curated by Sia Pineschi featuring a project by director Jon Lowenstein about activists from the South Side of Chicago.

“Social violence is a real and present problem in the United States. Issues like police brutality, racial discrimination, and poverty still disproportionately affect minority communities. Documentary photographer Jon Lowenstein has dedicated his practice to presenting the social effects of institutional violence, engaging with the people in his photographs over the course of decades to show how these issues can impact more than just individual lives.

Through projects like Shadow Lives USA and Ferguson, Lowenstein has employed a deep sensitivity to document the struggles of the migrant crisis in the United States and the national protests combating police brutality against Black men and women. In South Side, Lowenstein embraces his adopted community of Chicago’s South Side to show the pains and joys that come with daily life in a politically neglected neighbourhood.

Lowenstein is the first documentary photographer to utilise the blockchain, furthering a new initiative of using the technology to promote social justice and equity. The blockchain has become a popular method of permanently storing information in a way that is widely accessible to the public. Projects like the DADA Collective’s ‘No Justice No Peace’ and One / Off have employed this technology to champion police accountability and increase visibility for artists from underrepresented groups. By placing his photographs on the blockchain, Lowenstein has ensured that these records of his community are permanently embedded into the fabric of a nation-wide experience.

Lowenstein’s newest project, The Advocate, takes a focused look at the activists fighting for a new America from their home in the South Side of Chicago. As Lowenstein keeps pace with Jedidiah Brown and others, this Chicago neighbourhood reveals itself as a microcosm of American social violence and racism, mirroring the damaging effect this violence has on Black families and communities across the nation.”

(Sia Pineschi, curator)

“Set in the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential election, The Advocate is a portrait of the personal sacrifice required to make change in America as told through the eyes of four young Chicago-based activists. This feature length documentary film begins when a cadre of organizers successfully shuts down Chicago’s first and only Trump campaign rally, asserting their role as both the voice of their community and their generation.

Told partially through the lens of their own cameras, the story follows the “Facebook Live” era of street activism in which Jedidiah Brown, Will Calloway, Aleta Clark and Lamon Reccord attempt to inspire wholesale transformation in the utterly dispossessed communities of Chicago’s South Side using nothing but their phones.

Set against the backdrop of America's most segregated city, and the most violently segregated political era since the 1960s, this film documents the extraordinary levels of hard work, sacrifice and trauma experienced by these self-appointed advocates as they attempt  to make our country a better place to live for everyone.

From Laquan McDonald, to Harith Augustus, to Kenneka Jenkins, our characters use their voices to lift up those silenced by police brutality, institutional racism, and a broken democracy. They consistently put their lives on hold, and without a decent wage for success, they persevere with an undying faith that sets them apart and shines a light on what the work of true change actually looks like.

Bridging the narrative from front-line leaders who have confronted these challenges for decades to the more eclectic generation of activists mobilizing post-George Floyd, The Advocate serves as a testament to the power of one person’s will to do the right thing for the greater good.”

(Jon Lowenstein, director)