CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–March 19, 2015. Carlos Javier Ortiz, an award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary photographer, will discuss the importance of art as activism, including his most recent series, We All We Got, at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 26 in the second-floor Sullivan Room at Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.
A Chicago native and winner in 2009 of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Photography award, Ortiz spent years collecting photos and essays for We All We Got, which tells the story of families and individuals in contemporary America whose lives have been devastated by youth violence.
Committed to addressing social problems by using photography as a call to action for change, Ortiz will deliver the 2015 Matthew Freeman Lecture. An annual event, the lecture highlights transformational social justice initiatives as well as the exemplary work of Roosevelt students who are living the University’s social justice mission.
Documenting for more than a decade what life is like in society’s most vulnerable communities in Chicago as well as the United States, Mexico and Guatemala, Ortiz will discuss how his work raises awareness, particularly on the impact of violence on individuals, families and communities.
Two Roosevelt students will receive the Matthew Freeman Social Justice Award, which is one of the University’s highest honors for student achievement in social justice. This year’s recipients are Danielle Cooperstock, a Social Justice Studies major, and Richard Wallace, a Sociology major.
Sponsored by Roosevelt’s Mansfield Institute for Social Justice and Transformation, the event is free and open to the public. To register, visit www.roosevelt.edu/misjt or contact [email protected] or 312-341-2150.
Source: www.roosevelt.edu
