Where art is not afraid to look into the eyes of us regular poor folks just living our lives, this art comes down from the pretentious, self-conscious, and exclusive upper class realm and becomes community art, art with a purpose, humane. These are the pictures you’ll never see in Nike ads or car ads or perfume ads. These are the majority of Americans, picking up their broken identities and trying to scrape together a living, a culture, an identity, a life. Most of the images we see are the advertisements, trying to sell us a euphoria and prestige we could never achieve. We look around us and are disappointed, we struggle but don’t measure up. These photos show us - real and valuable -just as we are. They are sad because they aren’t the perfect images of others we’re used to seeing. They are empowering for the same reason. Thanks for these images and a chance to respond. Peace.

Wing Young Huie’s remarkable photographs have a touch of early-century Lewis Hine, a hint of the Great Depression Walker Evans, and a dash of Edward Hopper’s paintings, reflecting the loneliness and apartness of the them who are really us.

These are brave photographs of people moving through what look like difficult lives lived as well as can be, and Huie remains faithful to the diversity of the city and the reality of his subjects' lives. This record of this unique community is essential for regional collections, and it makes a good additional purchase for Americana collections in large libraries.