A Quick Look At Unseen America

(Newburgh) - “Take 10 or 15 minutes out of your day, and come see Newburgh.”

That was an invitation from Joyce Quinn, president of the Newburgh Enlarged City School District CSEA Unit. The public was encouraged to join members of the CSEA bargaining unit Saturday, August 26 at Newburgh Free Library, to glimpse slices of Newburgh life captured when the union members participated in a photography project aimed at giving a public voice to working class people.

Quinn, a head security monitor at North Junior High School who also works for the Glenn E Hines Memorial Boys & Girls Club, was part of a group of CSEA members participating in the Newburgh class of unseenamerica New York State, a collaboration of the Bread and Roses Cultural Project of 1199 SEIU, the New York State AFL-CIO and the Workforce Development Institute.

The core of the project was a 10-week workshop where participants learned the basic principles of documentary photography, which Newburgh CSEA members completed this spring. Unseenamerica New York State teaches photography and writing as tools that can be used to gain worker visibility and dignity. Each workshop culminates with an exhibition. The Newburgh photo exhibit opened August 4 at Newburgh Free Library in the library gallery and remained on display until August 31.

The exhibit featured a number of Newburgh people, places and events that might easily go unnoticed, said Quinn.

“One of my favorite photos was of our custodian at North Junior High who opens up the building before 6:30 in the morning, while most of us are still sleeping,” said Quinn. “These are the people who keep Newburgh up and running.”

Spotlighting these unseen workers was the goal of Esther Cohen, executive director of Bread and Roses, when she came up with the idea for unseenamerica. Cohen had received a donation of 100 film cameras, so she decided to use the donation to empower her union’s membership by setting up photography instruction. Each week, workers leave unseenamerica classes armed with a roll of film and a photography assignment. The results have been so powerful, a book of unseenamerica photography was released in May by Regan Books.

“The photographs in the new book and the photographs taken by our Newburgh students show that we are so much more than the work we do,” said unseenamerica Regional Coordinator Zoeann Murphy, who taught the photography class in Newburgh. “I have found that everyone has compelling stories to tell and great lessons to teach. This project gives us a chance to honor the struggle and celebrate the beauty in our daily lives.”

In addition to capturing what goes on in daily life, the photographers from the Newburgh class were also able to spotlight what they hope to see improved. Toie Calhoun, a teacher’s aide for the district, who is working this summer with the Newburgh Youth Bureau’s Playground on Wheels, photographed a variety of Newburgh scenes, from the bluff on Overlook Place to Chambers Street to areas in the Town of Newburgh. Her favorite photo (Street Ball 101) shows a group of young men playing a game of basketball in a makeshift court they created in the Washington Heights neighborhood.

All of the participating artists (Lorraine Baker, Regina Brown, Toie Calhoun, Toni Elmore, Thomas Kuruvilla, Lillian Paz and Joyce Quinn) work will be considered for display in New York at the CSEA delegate convention coming up soon.

(Pictured Above from left to right) Zoeann Murphy, Toie Calhoun, Joyce Quinn, Regina Brown, Toni Elmore, Lillian Paz, Thomas Kuruvilla at the reception for “unseenamerica” at the Newburgh Free Library.