Oliver Clark

Photography – St. Louis

As a social worker and photographer, my goal is to help raise awareness about many of the social issues I see in my city and community. In the wake of the Michael Brown protests, I decided to look deeper at the issues in north St. Louis that many of us would otherwise never witness. We often look down on those who struggle and assume that their homelessness, addiction, or poverty are a direct result of their actions. The \"North of Delmar\" series aims to expose these difficult issues so that we can work together as a community to resolve them. It can be so hard to fix an issue that you don\'t understand. Not feeling a personal connection to that problem only makes wanting to help even harder. By photographing what I see and posting it on social media, I hope to help establish that personal connection and foster that understanding to promote change. The scenes I photograph are not always easy to look at, but true art is supposed to make you feel something. I\'d like to think that the North of Delmar series evokes a lot of different feelings and emotions. Empathy. Anger. Understanding. Sadness. Hope. Empowerment. I want this series to be a motivating force for change. I want to help heal my city.