Cindy Neal: Everyday Portraits

We’re pleased to present newly preserved and digitized works from the 1970s by Cindy Neal, an independent Chicago-based videomaker.

After attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she worked at Videopolis and then became the director and curator of exhibitions at the Chicago Editing Center starting in 1978, which later became the Center for New Television. Her work in the 1970s included experimental forms of video image processing, as well as works of video journalism.

Several of Cindy’s videos that aired on Image Union have already been available on Media Burn, such as the up close portrait “Jane Byrne Election Night,” produced by Scott Jacobs with Cindy Neal and Lilly Ollinger.

The videos we are highlighting here include excerpts from three portraits of working people at small businesses in Illinois (an auto shop, a shoe repair store, and a restaurant), shot between 1976 and 1978. Two of them were shot for (but not used in) the “It’s a Living” series, based on Studs Terkel’s book, “Working.” The footage both reflects a bygone era and maintains contemporary relevance to our relationships with the work we do.

To see more:
Black’s Garage
Sam’s Shoe Service
New Japan restaurant
Cindy Neal – Other Works