In October 2026, a new exhibit, Mike Pocius: Neighborhood Picture Guy will open on the 9th floor of the Harold Washington Library Center, featuring photographs from the Mike Pocius Photographs collection. The exhibit closes March 31, 2027.
About the Exhibit:
Raised in the South Side Chicago neighborhood of Bridgeport, Mike Pocius was first introduced to photography by his father, Joe Pocius, who engaged as an amateur when not working as an electrician in the Union Stockyards. His father inspired him to purchase an Argus C3 rangefinder camera in his last year of grade school. It was not long before he cobbled together a second-hand enlarger and other equipment to create a darkroom in his home. He took most of the images in this exhibit with a Nikkormat camera.
In 1968, Pocius participated in Vietnam antiwar protests prior to being drafted in 1969. Afterwards, he attended Daley College and graduated from Columbia College in 1977. Over the years he has done a range of commercial portraits, and school and wedding photography, but Pocius always returned to his favorite topic: “the strange, wonderful and beguiling city” he calls his hometown. He describes the photographs on exhibit as a “patchwork quilt of my photo explorations.” Pocius saw his camera as a way to interact with people and places. Closer to home, he is known as the “neighborhood picture guy.”
Additional images from the Mike Pocius Photographs collection can be viewed in Special Collections. For more information or to schedule a research appointment: specoll@chipublib.org or 312-747-4875
Related Upcoming Events:
- Meet and greet with the photographer - October 24, 2006
Resources:
- Finding aid: Mike Pocius Photographs