Black Lives Matter protest in Chicago

A demonstrator at a Black Lives Matter march in Chicago.

Chicago-based photographer Ryan Bakerink took to the streets with protesters demanding justice for victims of racial violence and police brutality.

Chicago

Standing up during the Black Lives Matter march in Chicago.

Ryan Bakerink

Courtesy Ryan Bakerink

Photojournalist and portrait photographer Ryan Bakerink, whose subjects have ranged from the remnants of Chernobyl and abandoned buildings to rock bands and music festivals, moved to Chicago 20 years ago, when he was 20 years old. "Chicago has shaped who I am as a person and an artist," he writes on his website, "and although I've traveled to more than 40 countries, I have only scratched the city's surface."

During the Black Lives Matter marches that took place around the world in the wake of the death in police custody of George Floyd, Bakerink documented, in black-and-white, the diversity and passion of marchers in Chicago; then, he captured, in color, the fallout of unrest in the city – smashed storefronts, graffiti – and also the surprising objects left behind.

He admits online that he was not merely an objective observer to the marches. Of one scene of demonstrators he photographed, he wrote, "It gave me life again. We need to stop being armchair activists. Get up. Stand up. Fight. Give a f***. Apathy is not a solution."