THE ACT OF RECORDING IS AN ACT OF LOVE: THE SOUTH SIDE HOME MOVIE PROJECT
(CHICAGO – June 12, 2025) Logan Center Exhibitions and Arts + Public Life is pleased to present The Act of Recording is an Act of Love: The South Side Home Movie Project. This exhibition traces the 20-year history of the South Side Home Movie Project (SSHMP), an archival and community engagement initiative that preserves and shares amateur films and the stories of local everyday life that they uniquely capture. Founded in 2005 at the University of Chicago by Cinema and Media Studies professor Jacqueline Stewart, SSHMP is dedicated to collecting, preserving, digitizing, exhibiting, and researching the rich tapestry of home movies created by Chicago’s South Side residents.
In partnership with the Film Studies Center, the SSHMP preserves these fragile films and makes them accessible online. Today, SSHMP boasts a collection of over 1,200 reels of 16mm, 8mm, and Super-8mm footage shot by South Siders from the 1930s to the 1980s. As part of UChicago’s Arts + Public Life, the SSHMP transcends traditional archival roles. It acts as a cultural steward, collaborating with a vibrant community of film donors, educators, artists, and filmmakers to explore a wide range of educational and creative uses for these invaluable historical films.
Musician and poet Jamila Woods, inspired by the images she saw in the South Side Home Movie Project archive, observed that “The act of recording is an act of love. To press record is to say, ’I want to remember you, I wish you to be remembered.’”
As the South Side Home Movie Project begins to celebrate two decades of conserving and sharing these memories, this exhibition gives visitors a glimpse into its research and preservation processes while highlighting stories of joy, love, and the intimacies of everyday life through the lens of the home movies. Join us for an engaging journey into the distinct ways that home movies can activate community memories and provide affirming resources for imagining our futures.
PROGRAMMING:
Digital Storytelling Initiative’s Mothering on Screen Film Series Sunday, July 13 | 1 PM Logan Center Screening Room, 201 Down in the Delta (1998)
Closing Reception Friday, August 15 | 6-8 PM Logan Center Gallery
For more information about related exhibition programming, visit loganexhibitions.uchicago.edu or follow Logan Center Exhibitions on Facebook & Instagram @logancenterexhibitions.
Please visit the South Side Home Movie Project website for forthcoming 20th Anniversary events: sshmp.uchicago.edu or follow @southsidehomemovies on Facebook and Instagram
The Act of Recording is an Act of Love: The South Side Home Movie Project, presented by Arts + Public Life and Logan Center Exhibitions, is curated by Jacqueline Stewart and Sabrina Craig. Additional support is provided by the Ng Family Visiting Artist Fund, the Office of the Provost’s Diversity & Inclusion Initiative at the University of Chicago, the Revada Foundation, and Friends of the Logan Center.
Download the full press release
MEDIA CONTACTS
Liu Yang
Associate Director of Communications, Arts + Public Life
llyang@uchicago.edu
Jan Brugger
Exhibitions Manager, Logan Center Exhibitions
janbrugger@uchicago.edu
773.834.8377