The City that Never Sleeps, 2016
If you look at this photo that I took of the Chicago River in the downtown area, it is so beautiful from an architectural point of view…the canals, the bridges and the buildings that line the river as it curves around the bend. We have a place like this in my country too. But it is different in many ways. Instead of tall buildings, you see only trees and the forest.
I love the way the architects here in Chicago really focused on the water and transformed it to make it clean, and to make it look beautiful for everyone who sees it. In the background of this photo, you see more water. This is Lake Michigan. It takes an effort to make this city so beautiful, and it doesn’t happen in one day. You see more evidence of continuing beautification of Chicago with the construction on the bridge, and the crane on top of one of the buildings. This city is not sleeping: Even though it’s already beautiful, people keep working on it because they realize the work is never finished. They are motivated by the beauty: How can we continue to make this place more beautiful?
Chicago also continues to find ways for people to see the beauty from different perspectives: from rooftops, from the riverwalk, from the train, from the bus. There are spaces everywhere for people to enjoy it.
In my country, we don’t have time to do these things because of all the political instability. I don’t know if people here realize that they are so blessed: What a luxury it is to be able to take the time and effort to make things beautiful. It is an amazing thing for me to see.
In the online exhibit Picturing a New Life in Chicago, people who were forced to flee their home countries because of war, persecution or violence share photos and inspiring stories about adjusting to a new life here. Some of the photographers came to Chicago through a refugee resettlement program. Others sought political asylum. Learn more in Online Exhibit: Forced Migration Photovoice Project.
