Backstage: An Unfurling of the JPC | Black Photography & Visual Culture

Kenn Cook Jr. (b. 1988) is a Chicago-based photographer and culture keeper whose work centers on storytelling, memory, and the preservation of Black cultural life. Rooted in his upbringing on the Westside of Chicago, his practice moves between documentation and intimacy, using photography to reflect on community, place, and belonging. His work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, and the Chicago Sun-Times. He has also worked with the Magnum Foundation. His work is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography. He is a 2024 LensCulture Emerging Talent Award winner, was named the 2025 Artist-in-Residence at the Legler Regional Library, and is currently an Artist-in-Residence in the Nichols Tower program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Mazie joined the Department of Photographs in 2014. She specializes in American photography past and present. She holds a PhD in the history of photography and American art from Brown University, as well as an MA in modern art from Boston University. Her research has been supported by fellowships at the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, American Antiquarian Society, National Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Terra Foundation for American Art.

Sherwin “Keith” Rice is the historian and archivist for the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center at California State University, Northridge. The Bradley Center houses photographic and oral history materials that document the attested historically underrepresented communities of Los Angeles. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Cal State Northridge and a Ph.D in history from Claremont Graduate University.

Jehoiada Zechariah Calvin is a memory worker, writer, and zine-maker from Chicago. Before joining the JPC Archive project, he created legacy management resources as the Community Engagement Archivist for the Black Metropolis Research Consortium. He is also a co-organizer with Beet Street Zine, an art-based and community-led publication for and by Queer and Trans Black people and people of color to create a more equitable food system.