Were evidence required to prove that Chicago is the hands-down Home of the Blues, even the most hardened skeptic will become a believer by taking in the scores of black-and-white and color photos shot by ten homegrown practitioners in this overflowing show. Every aspect of the urban blues is on display—portraits of the greats, dynamic performance shots, venue and backstage scenes, and studies of the culture surrounding and enveloping the music. Although the blues filters life in all its attitudes through its earthy prism, the pathos behind its sensibilities is captured in veteran blues photographer Marc PoKempner’s piercing black-and-white study of the worn and weathered hand of a man extended across the top of a bar towards a crumpled and torn five dollar bill. Keep this image and the feelings that it evokes in mind at Blues Fest. Willie Dixon once said, “You can’t have the blues if you can sing the blues.” (Michael Weinstein)
Through June 30 at the Chicago Photography Collective, 29 E. Madison
