West Side Earth Keepers Photo Exhibit Spotlights Local Environmental Stewards

A new photo exhibition at BUILD Chicago, 5100 W. Harrison in Austin, is casting a long-overdue spotlight on the people quietly reshaping the West Side’s relationship with land, food, and the environment. 

“Westside Earth Keepers,” a collection by West Side photographer Kenn Cook Jr., opened April 3 at BUILD and will run throughout the month. The exhibit features roughly two dozen portraits of residents—gardeners, organizers, and advocates—whose work centers on caring for the earth in their communities. 

The idea for the exhibition emerged organically, said Kesiah Bascom, manager of BUILD’s Austin Grown, which teaches West Side youth how to grow food and responsibly steward the environment. She said the concept came together during a chance exchange with Cook at a film screening. 

“For more than 15 years, I’ve been doing food systems work, and I really believe in the connective power of food,” Bascom said at the April 3 opening. “It brings people from different cultures together.”

Bascom said she has spent recent years exploring ideas around earth stewardship and Black agricultural traditions. When she and Cook began discussing his work as a visual storyteller and archivist, the concept for the exhibit quickly took shape.

“We thought about how powerful it would be to highlight people in this community who are tending to the earth,” she said. “A lot of times, they’re not seen. We wanted to bring that to light.”

Cook said the project was also inspired by the visible growth of community gardens in Austin. 

“What sparked this project is all the gardens going up in Austin—about two dozen over the last few years,” Cook said. “When I first met Kesiah and others at community events, I didn’t know much about community gardening. They were teaching me.”

Those lessons extended beyond planting and harvesting. Cook said he began to understand the deeper cultural and historical connections between Black communities and agriculture.

“They were teaching me how it connects to Black culture—how we were leading agriculture at one time, but don’t anymore,” he said. “Earth keeping is about people restoring the land, reducing their carbon footprint, and building something sustainable for the future.”

Through his portraits, Cook aims to document and preserve those stories while giving visibility to individuals whose work often happens outside the public eye. 

For many of the exhibition’s subjects, that recognition carries emotional weight.

Briana Shields, the founder of the Austin Community Food Co-op whose portrait is featured in the exhibit, said the experience offered a rare moment to reflect on her impact.

“When you’re doing the work, you’re not always thinking about the impact,” Shields said. “It felt really powerful to be seen and for people to learn more about why I do what I do in the community.”

Crystal Gardner, the co-founder of the West Side Environmental Justice Alliance, echoed that sentiment while also emphasizing the ongoing nature of the work.

“It’s overwhelming and a high honor, especially in a neighborhood I’ve been in for 40 years,” Gardner said. “To be acknowledged for work I feel I’ve barely begun is meaningful—but we’ve got more work to do.”

That sense of urgency and continuation is a throughline in the exhibit. While the photographs capture still moments, the work behind them is dynamic—rooted in long-term efforts to address food access, environmental justice, and community health on the West Side.

For Cook, the exhibit is as much about archiving a moment as it is about inspiring the next one.

“These are the people doing the work right now,” he said. “And their stories deserve to be told.”