Danny Lyon’s Uptown series offers a poignant glimpse into the lives of families in Chicago’s gritty uptown neighborhood, an area often dubbed “Hillbilly Heaven” due to its significant population of central Appalachian immigrants. During the summer of 1965, Lyon forged connections with the residents of Clifton Avenue, capturing images that reveal both the community’s hardships and their enduring pride.
In 1966 Lyon wrote about the project, “The pictures are not made to disturb people’s consciences but rather to disturb their consciousness. The pictures do not ask you to ‘help’ these people, but something much more difficult; to be briefly and intensely aware of their existence, an existence as real and significant as your own.”
Lyon’s practice is distinguished by his deep immersion and active participation in the lives of his subjects, a hallmark of his compelling documentary style. While still a student at the University of Chicago in the 60s, he photographed the Chicago Outlaws, the oldest outlaw biker club in the world, and documented the civil rights movement for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Through these intense and intimate experiences with marginalized communities, Lyon shaped an influential style of photojournalism and emerged as a seminal figure in post-war documentary photography and film.
