Becoming Themselves portrays Chicago Public School students over a seven year artist residency, (2018-2025). What began as a traditional photography project has evolved into a document of identity, community and urgent social issues. The portraits honor and commemorate teens who are marginalized and underrepresented.  In this work we see students navigate through the challenges, possibilities and transformations of adolescence.  The teens collaborate in the art-making by inviting me into their world. Using color, light and framing, the  compositions reveal significance in spontaneous gestures and everyday interactions, often through art-historical references.

I started work on this series under the auspices of' ‘Artists in Public Schools,’ a nonprofit arts organization which pairs artists with Chicago Public Schools to tell individual stories of the public school system. Bell School was my first assignment. Located on the north side, Bell is a well-resourced school that serves neighborhood, deaf and gifted students. In 2019, I exhibited my Bell School pictures for the first time at a local library; word of the project spread among parents and CPS administrators. I was then invited to document the historic merger of Jenner and Ogden, two racially and economically segregated schools located in the former Cabrini-Green housing area and on Chicago’s Gold Coast.

My work at Ogden-Jenner opened the door for me to photograph at Ogden International High School, from 2019 through 2022. In 2021, I received the Diane Dammeyer Fellowship in Photographic Arts and Social Issues to complete my work at both Ogden Schools and begin to photograph at Senn High School, which is ongoing.

By continuing to show up and offer pictures to individual students and the schools where I’ve worked, I’ve been welcomed generously. Students have asked me to photograph their sports events and performances, to make birthday portraits, to document dances and parties. In this way I hope thank those who have given so much of themselves to the project.

The longer I do this work the more rewarding it has become for me personally as well as a photographer. One of the unexpected gifts is realizing that the students value the photographs. As Ogden student, Khov’ya, said upon graduating Ogden High School, “I’m really happy you took those pictures. They might have seemed like regular days, but it’s good to look back on those moments…little memories and little moments. We just knew that you were always here, taking pictures.”

—Melissa Ann Pinney

August 2025