My intention as a photographer is to connect the viewer with people and places they may not know. This series of photographs focuses on my neighborhood in Chicago. Uptown is a diverse community with a large population of first- and second-generation Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants. While non-essential businesses are closed, business owners are finding alternative methods of paying their workers and making rent. Here, a tailor at Erfan Mohammadi’s dry-cleaning business makes affordable masks to sell to the local community.

We are all struggling, but people’s desire to help one another rises to the surface even in the face of crisis and uncertainty. 

 

Andrew Steiner is a self-taught photographer. He lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

Also by this author
Published in the June 2020 issue: View Contents
© 2024 Commonweal Magazine. All rights reserved. Design by Point Five. Site by Deck Fifty.