When it comes to the issue of gun violence in Philadelphia, it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers. Every year, the city’s homicide and crime rates are analyzed, broken down, picked apart and interpreted, often resulting in drastically different conclusions depending on the group or person who is taking a look at the data.
Yet for Kevin Cook, the most important aspects of the gun violence epidemic aren’t the stats, but the individuals dealing with the aftermath.
“You can hear about statistics,” the 26-year-old photographer said. “But when somebody sees somebody mourning at a vigil, they can’t deny a photograph.”
It’s that belief that fuels Cook’s work. Using his talents as a photographer, Cook documents gun violence in the city and its affect on the community, mainly in North Philadelphia. Several moments in Cook’s life brought him to where he is now.
Growing up in Northeast Philadelphia, as well as Abington, Pennsylvania, Cook admits he wasn’t really exposed to the culture of North Philly. It wasn’t until he attended Temple University as an undergrad that he witnessed it firsthand.
“It’s just a very different situation economically and culturally being in the Philly suburbs and then being in North Philadelphia,” Cook said.
After graduating Temple, Cook studied photojournalism at the University of Missouri, where he is set to receive his Master’s degree in December. It was during his first year at Missouri when the words of a fellow photographer helped shape his own vision.
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“Ed Kashi came to speak,” Cook said. “He’s a wonderful documentary photographer. He talked about using Instagram and his iPhone to make pictures.”
After getting an iPhone of his own, Cook discovered a new way to utilize his skills.
“It was very free,” Cook said. “I almost felt like I could interact with my subjects directly. And I can really instill empathy in my pictures by being close to them.”
Using the iPhone rather than a traditional camera, Cook began documenting North Philly through portraits, stills and street photography in the winter of 2012. Right away he began to notice the advantages.
“When you’re working in certain situations where you’re a white dude in the middle of a predominately African American community, having a couple cameras strapped around you is gonna make you stand out even more than you already are,” Cook said. “Using my phone allowed me to take pictures in a very free way.”
Aside from his own website, Cook also used Instagram to showcase his work.
“I use my Instagram account mostly for long form photography projects,” Cook said.
Cook began his photo series on Philadelphia gun violence in May. As the project progressed, Cook not only took pictures of community residents, but also formed legitimate bonds and friendships with them.
“People are very supportive and willing to let me use real life to make real pictures when I’m around them,” Cook said. “When 80% of gun violence doesn’t get covered in the media, it’s very important to these people and their families that I’m photographing a funeral or photographing a crime scene. Everybody has been thankful.”
It’s this gratitude that has helped Cook move forward with his project, no matter how tragic the moments he’s captured have been.
“It’s a little unexpected at times when you’re photographing a funeral and someone from the family pulls you aside and is like, ‘thank you for being here,’” Cook said. “That’s motivation to keep going and keep telling stories in my city.”
With all the stories he’s told through his work, Cook admits one in particular sticks out to him the most -- the death of 25-year-old Terrence “Bird” Cox, who was shot and killed down the street from his North Philadelphia home. His friends and family described him as a good man, with no criminal record, who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I can’t even imagine what It would be like to lose a loved one in that matter,” Cook said. “To lose someone who’s a good kid, an innocent kid, who’s just on his own street and gets killed because he’s at the wrong place at the wrong time. That breaks my heart.”
While his work has earned him plenty of accolades and awards, Cook said his ultimate aspiration isn’t to win critical praise but to make a genuine difference in the Philadelphia community.
“My goal is to be able to reach out to the youth in Philadelphia,” Cook said. “I’d like to be able to go to inner city schools and show them my photographs. I’d like to team up with organizations that battle this epidemic and help them use my photographs to enlighten the world.”
And despite all the attention he’s received so far for his innovative photos and projects, the Philly native remains humble and with a clear sense of purpose.
“I don’t do it for myself,” Cook said. “I don’t do it for anybody except the people in the pictures.”
To view more of Cook's work, check out his official website and Instagram page.
