Perspective Gallery is proud to welcome Kenn Cook Jr. to our lecture series “Perspectives on Photography.” Cook will discuss “#MyWestSideStory, Images from Black America’” on Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 4 PM at the Gallery.

Cook is a Chicago-based photographer and culture keeper whose work centers on storytelling, memory, and the preservation of Black cultural life. Rooted in his upbringing on the Westside of Chicago, his practice moves between documentation and intimacy, using photography to reflect on community, place, and belonging.

His work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, and the Chicago Sun-Times. He has also worked with the Magnum Foundation. His work is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography. He is a 2024 LensCulture Emerging Talent Award winner, was named the 2025 Artist-in-Residence at the Legler Regional Library, and is currently an Artist-in-Residence in the Nichols Tower program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Image: Kenn Cook Jr., Untitled