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Pulitzer Center Update December 4, 2014

Book "We All We Got" by Carlos Javier Ortiz Documents Consequences of Violence in Chicago and Philadelphia

Media: Author:
A hug. Image by Carlos Javier Ortiz. Guatemala, 2013.
English

“Too Young to Die” is a long-term exploration of the tragedy gun violence exacts on Chicago’s...

Media file: screen_shot_2014-12-04_at_5.01.59_pm.png
Photo courtesy Carlos Javier Ortiz

We All We Got, by grantee Carlos Javier Ortiz, documents the loss, grief and rebuilding of communities in Chicago and Philadelphia most affected by gun violence.

Purchase the book.

From Ortiz's website:

We All We Got explores the consequences and devastation of youth violence in contemporary America from 2006 to 2013 through a mix of powerful photographs, incisive essays, and moving letters from diverse individuals affected by this perennial scourge.

Carlos Javier Ortiz's work provides an avenue for getting to know these children and their families. This work aims to initiate a conversation about youth violence and society's complicity in it. The terror in the eyes of grieving children and inconsolable mothers only allows the viewer to begin to understand the toll that this reality takes on the children who live it.

The stories take place in Chicago and Philadelphia. By repeatedly returning to the same neighborhoods over the course of eight years, Ortiz shows the plight of the communities with which he has built a deep connection. You see abandoned buildings, memorials for victims, segregation, graffiti, juvenile incarceration, and other constant reminders of the outcomes of violence on young people and their surroundings.

But through all the heartbreak, you also see the incredible resilience of the individuals left behind. And where there is terror, there is also a glimpse of the innocence that remains and a tiny glimmer of hope.

Published by Red Hook Editions.

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