Andrew Miller

My documentary project with the non-profit organization Artists in Public Schools continues with an emphasis on the classroom setting and student portraiture. For the 2022-23 school year, I am paired up with William P. Nixon Elementary School, a K-6 grade school in Hermosa, a northwest side neighborhood in Chicago. 

Initially my focus began by documenting the after school programs covering classes in Spanish language skills, music and folk dance. The early pictures made during my first few weeks at Nixon made me realize I wanted to work within a more controlled environment when making individual portraits. Going forward, I can plan the backgrounds in advance while the students can engage with the camera. 

The series of photographs are two-fold, scenes from the classroom and individual student portraiture. I am interested in a creative take on the classic student school portrait. The hallways and auditorium replace the rolled studio paper in the hope that it can allow the student to relax more. Kids at the elementary school age have a tendency to love the camera and mostly enjoy being photographed. 

In the end, each student will go away with a 4×6 print. It is my hope that many of the kids can walk away with an understanding that there is still value and excitement in tangible objects like a photographic print in an era when digital is the default.

Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (CHSAS) is located in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood in the city’s southwest corner. The school has a 35 year history of providing agricultural education and opportunities to urban students. The school has 52 acres of farmland with cows, goats, alpacas, pigs and turkeys. I will begin by photographing CHSAS in the fall of 2020 when students, teachers and faculty navigate through the first full semester during the coronavirus pandemic. The school is open and teachers and staff routinely come to their classroom while students are mandated to stay at home using a variety of online learning tools. This project will evolve as the public is better able to get the virus under control. The students will hopefully return to the classroom for in-person learning sometime in 2021. As things stand, my project aims to document how our current reality has taken its toll on teachers and students by showing the uncertainty, anxiety and social void created by the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time I will be portraying what CHSAS has to offer in the area of agricultural sciences for those who attend and for the community at large.