BIOGRAPHY
Jimmy Heath is a photographer and community
activist living and working in the Over-the-Rhine
neighborhood of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Jimmy
came to Over-the-Rhine in 1995 as a homeless
person, eventually finding his way to the Drop
Inn Center homeless shelter. He had hit rock
bottom in his life and career, and had turned
to alcohol and drugs for solace. At the Drop
Inn Center, Jimmy Heath found hope and recovery
and a new direction for his life and inspiration
for his photography as a community activist
and documentarian. After graduating from the
Drop Inn Center's Live-in Recovery Program,
community activist Buddy Gray, founder of the
Drop Inn Center and leader of the Cincinnati
movement to create solutions for homelessness,
encouraged Jimmy’s involvement in the Over-the-Rhine
community and his use of the camera as a tool
for documentation.
Jimmy Heath’s photographs attempt to dispel
the myths and negative stereotypes usually associated
with an inner-city neighborhood like Over-the-Rhine.
His photos depict everyday life in an affirming
way, showing the beauty of the people and places
in his community. Jimmy’s photography also
graphically illustrates and documents the difficulties
and struggle of inner-city community life. His
work has been displayed and published nationally.
Jimmy is currently director of the Center
for Community Photography at Peaslee Neighborhood
Center in Over-the-Rhine where he runs the Literacy
Through Photography program for neighborhood
children. Jimmy is also editor of Streetvibes
newspaper, a forum for homeless, civil rights
and human rights issues, read by over 15,000
people in Cincinnati and beyond. Jimmy is a
Trustee of the Over-the-Rhine Community Council
and a member of the City of Cincinnati’s
Over-the-Rhine Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee.
He is the vice-president of the North American
Street Newspaper Association and is currently
sitting on the boards of several other local
non-profit organizations.
In 1999, the City of Cincinnati awarded Jimmy
an Individual Artist’s Grant for a documentary
photography project of Over-the-Rhine. He is
in his third year with the Taft Museum of
Art as an Artist Reaching Classrooms lecturer
sharing his work with high school students,
examining the relationship between artists,
art, and social responsibility. He also works
with the Mayerson Foundation in their
community service program for high school students.
Also, in 1999, Jimmy was selected as one of
20 people nationally to serve as a Mickey
Leland Hunger Fellow with the Congressional
Hunger Center in Washington, DC. During
the first six months of his service he worked
at a food bank in St. Louis, studying the causes
and relationship between homelessness, poverty
and hunger. He completed his last six months
with the National Coalition for the Homeless
in Washington, DC, working on the National
Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project.
In 2002, Jimmy received the Maurice McCracken
Peace and Justice Award for his work with
inner-city children and is a past recipient
of the Jimmy Render Award for Homeless Activism.
In the spring of 2004, Jimmy was honored to
participate in a workshop for Literacy Through
Photography (LTP) educators at The Center
for Documentary Photography, Duke University,
facilitated by well known photographer and LTP
instructor Wendy Ewald.
PRESENTATIONS
Jimmy Heath presents a
slide show and lecture featuring his photographs
and a discussion of his life and experiences
in Over-the-Rhine to schools, churches and community
groups. To schedule a speaking engagement, contact
Jimmy Heath at jimmy@JimmyHeath.org
or call (513) 564-9856. Jimmy requests an honorarium
of between $50 - $1,000 per presentation (sliding
scale depending on audience) to help support
his work and projects.
