Kamala Harris Freedom Poster Chicago Street Photography

A Weathered Political Poster Layered Into the Chicago Streetscape

The damage is what made me stop. This political poster in Chicago had already been torn, scraped and partially covered, yet the portrait, the name Kamala Harris and the large word FREEDOM were still clearly visible beneath all those deteriorating layers.

I was interested less in the poster as a political message than in what the street had done to it. Paper had peeled away in irregular sections. Older graphics appeared underneath. Marks, adhesive, scratches and fragments of other material had accumulated across the surface until the original design became part of something much less controlled.

That transformation is what interested me photographically.

I framed the poster tightly so there is almost nowhere else for the eye to go. The portrait remains the dominant element, but the torn edges and exposed layers continually interrupt it. Even the bold lettering across the bottom has begun to disappear, leaving the photograph balanced somewhere between documentary street photography and found urban abstraction.

Black and white emphasizes those textures. The distinction between printed image, damaged paper and the surface beneath becomes less obvious, and everything begins to merge into one weathered composition.

I often find these temporary scenes more interesting than something designed to last. A political poster may begin as a carefully controlled piece of communication, but once it reaches a city wall, weather and time take over. I photographed the moment after that process had already begun.

© Dan Kosmayer, 2024