Single Pump Generic Gas Station, Allerton, IL 2006
Main Street, Chadwick, IL 2006
Community Sign, Long Point, IL 2007
Open Bar on North St, Saunemin, IL 2007
House with Lawn Ornaments, Long Point, IL 2007
House Facing Grain Elevators, Claytonville, IL 2007
A Building with Painted Historical Icons, Agusta, IL 2009
Willie's Nude Sculpture, Cairo, IL 2009
Willie lives alone in this large Antebellum house built during the Civil War era. He says that at night the street lights give his sculpture a warm glow, giving it a more flesh like appearance.
Main Street, Ashton, IL 2008
E-Town Restaurant, Ohio River, Elizabethtown, IL 2009
Creston, IL 2010
Used Car Lot, Cars Auto, East Dubuque, IL 2008
Front Yard, Carrier Mills, IL 2009
Commerical Avenue, Historic Downtown Cairo, IL 2009.
This block is the site of the 1909 lynching of Willie James, a black man accused of raping and killing a young white woman. His rope broke during the hanging, so the angry mob riddled his body with bullets, dragged him a mile to the scene of the crime, then set his body on fire. All of this took place in front of 10,000 cheering spectators, of whom many who participated in this horrific event were women. Commercial Ave. now sits vacant, the victim of a civil rights boycott that lasted three years during the early 70's as blacks refused to shop in the stores where shop owners wouldn't hire them, eventually driving the white business owners out of business. The city never recovered economically after that event. In its heyday during the 1920's Cairo's population peaked around 15,000. Recent census figures report only 2,800 residents, 60% of which are black living at or below poverty level.
Wall Graphics, Colp, IL 2009
In the 1970's Colp Bar opened as a mixed-race tavern when the other local bar in town refused to serve blacks. Many well known black blues musicians performed here. Colp Bar closed down in 2007 due to the dwindling population of the town.
Backyard Garden with Cross, Mounds, IL 2009
Two Mobile Homes, Loda, IL 2010
Dino in Backyard, Elwook, IL 2006
Sheds, Vermilion County Fairgrounds, Danville, IL 2011
A Shop Owner Surveying His Property, Gulfport, IL 2008
The small hamlet of Gulfport was completely destroyed when a levee 20 miles up stream broke along the Mississippi River and put the town under 20 feet of water. It took the Army Corps of Engineers two months to pump out the water. I shot these images on the first day residents were allowed to back onto their property to assess the damage.
A woman Viewing Her Destroyed Mobile Home, Gulfport, IL 2008
The small hamlet of Gulfport was completely destroyed when a levee 20 miles up stream broke along the Mississippi River and put the town under 20 feet of water. It took the Army Corps of Engineers two months to pump out the water. I shot these images on the first day residents were allowed to back onto their property to assess the damage.
Flooded Home Interior, Gulfport, IL 2008
The small hamlet of Gulfport was completely destroyed when a levee 20 miles up stream broke along the Mississippi River and put the town under 20 feet of water. It took the Army Corps of Engineers two months to pump out the water. I shot these images on the first day residents were allowed to back onto their property to assess the damage.
The Deliverance of Empty Hope. Cairo, IL 2009
Main Street, Good Hope, IL 2009
Discarded Church Sign, Metropolis, IL 2009
Bunyon Giant, Route 66 Tourist Attraction, Atlanta, Illinois 2006
Street Basketball, Cairo, IL 2009
Lamp, Drum Set, and Dog Houses, Grayville, IL 2009
Building Facade, Hampton, IL 2009
Patriotic House, Rockford, IL 2009
Willie on Commercial Avenue & Eighth Street, Cairo, IL 2009
Willie is sitting on the exact spot where 100 years to the day Willie James, a black man was dragged from his jail cell by a raging mob and lynched in front of 10,000 cheering spectators. He never got the fair trial for the murder he was accused of. There weren't any witnesses or evidence to pin him to the crime, just a terrible racial hatred.
