Photographer Austin Pope has been capturing the memories of vacant Chicago Public Schools for over four years. 

Each school photographed was shut down as a part of Rahm Emanuel’s efforts to close over 50 schools in 2013– the largest mass closure of public schools in the United States. 

Through portraits and a gallery of over 40 schools, Pope’s photography unravels the affects these school closures have had on Chicagoans 10 years later. 

Pope’s project, The (Mis)Education of Chicago, has been on display at Chicago’s Blanc Gallery in the Bronzeville neighborhood since October. 

“I’m trying to capture that story because once these schools are gone, the only thing we’re going to have is the memories of it,” Pope said. “At some point, these buildings will be demolished and the crime that was committed, all its evidence, is more or less going to be gone.” 

One portrait in Pope’s series depicts Latrenda Day, a former student at Francis Scott Key elementary school. Day attended the school from kindergarten to fifth grade. 

While Day is now an adult, she often drives past her former school, which turned into a private Christian school in 2022, reminiscing on the neighborhood kids she shared pizza and chocolate milk with during lunchtime, she said. 

“The teachers were very hands-on. They were your parents when you weren’t with your parents,” Day said. “I just remember teachers caring more… they weren’t doing it for a check. They were doing it because they truly loved educating.” 

Once the school closed, students either moved away, or trekked to different schools in unfamiliar and sometimes dangerous neighborhoods, she said. 

When snapping portraits of Chicagoans like Day, Pope said their stories revealed that many displaced students were forced to travel through areas with a heavy gang presence. 

Though Pope is not directly tied to any of the closed CPS schools from 2013, he said the closures still affect him because he is part of the Chicago community. 

His project speaks to the overall sentiment of systematic oppression behind the closures, Pope said. Demonstrating the impact of the school closures through art rather than statistics was an intentional approach in his project, refuting the idea that truth can only be supported through numbers. 

“I feel like sometimes, as an artist of color, there’s a pressure on us to over-explain when something racist is happening,” Pope said. 

Pope argues that if the closures had happened in a neighborhood without people of color, “there wouldn’t need to be statistics–there would be outrage,” he said. 

The familiar fear of school closures is resurfacing now– as talk of additional closures in black and brown communities has been circling since 2023. 

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) are protesting CPS plans to close seven schools in Chicago’s Acero charter school network– most of which are located in South Side neighborhoods.

Douglass Academy High School, located across the street from the former Francis Scott Key elementary school, can hold over 900 students, but only has 35 enrolled. Though the CTU voted to keep the school open this year, it joins a lengthy list of nearly 300 “underused schools” considered ideal for closure to alleviate budget deficits. 

While the fate of these schools is still up in the air, Mayor Johnson and the CPS board passed a moratorium on school closings until 2027. This temporary prohibition is subject to reversal by the board at any time, leaving many Black and Brown community members, like Day, frustrated. 

“I don’t believe that in Black and Brown neighborhoods we are cared for in the manner of other neighborhoods, of other ethnicities,” Day said. “Black and Brown neighborhoods continue to be caught up in this catch-22 about what we need, versus what they tell us we need and how much they want to spend.” 

Pope echoed a similar sentiment. 

While many vacant schools were repurposed into art and health care centers, Black and Brown communities shouldn’t have to sacrifice educational facilities for community spaces, he said. 

“We either have to have a school or we can have an art center,” Pope said. “But we can’t have both, and that’s where the disparity comes in for me.” 

Day’s excitement for Pope’s project and inspiration for being photographed is influenced by her pride as a former CPS student, she said. 

Seeing Pope’s photos of the empty schools and lots, brought back memories of kids playing basketball, swinging on the monkey bars and playing on seesaws, Day said. She hopes viewers take away a similar nostalgia, even if they weren’t affected by the school closures. 

“It doesn’t affect you, but to see it in a place like a gallery… speaks more value,” said Day.

Pope’s project has been in the making for over four years, and he plans to continue gathering portraits for years to come– whether that takes one year or ten, he said.

“It’s been an interesting journey,” Pope said. “It’s interesting how each one of these buildings has its own persona and spirit in regards to what it was and what it’s also becoming.”

Pope’s exhibit is open by appointment at the Blanc Gallery until December 8. Find more information here.