LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

PORTRAITS AND STORIES FROM COMMERCIAL STREET

Love Your Neighbor is a portrait-based storytelling project that invites you to pause, look closely, and truly see the people we so often pass by without a second thought. Each portrait and accompanying narrative represents a real person who lives, works, or passes through our community—photographed entirely along Commercial Street, a place that itself reflects layers of history, struggle, and renewal. And while all of the exhibit participants were photographed on Commercial Street, the themes of the project transcend geography; this work could represent any neighborhood. At its heart, it speaks to our universal longing for connection and our shared human need for community.

The creative process was deliberately simple yet intentional. Each participant was invited with no preparation, no prior knowledge of what we’d ask. Everyone answered the same set of questions, in the same order. This approach created a level playing field—removing expectation, allowing raw honesty, vulnerability, and unexpected beauty to surface. The uniform structure became a kind of mirror, reflecting both the individuality and shared humanity of each person.

I began this project with a deep desire to bridge divides. In a world increasingly defined by difference and distance, I wanted to create something that would remind us how powerful it is to simply see one another. Not just to look—but to listen.

What surprised me most were the patterns that emerged. Without prompting, people opened up about grief, hope, forgiveness, resilience, and love. There was an unmistakable common thread—people want to be known, to be heard, to matter and to make a positive difference in this world. The honesty I was met with, again and again, was humbling and uplifting.

Love Your Neighbor isn’t about fixing or judging. It’s about witnessing. My hope is that this collection of faces and voices challenges each of us to step a little closer—to listen with more intention, to love with fewer conditions, and to remember that our neighbors might not be who we expect… and that’s exactly the point.

—Randy Bacon