Anyone who lives in Milwaukee eventually notices the broad range of social and economic conditions when traveling on North Avenue. Barbara Miner, a Riverwest-based writer and photographer, was so intrigued with this that she started snapping photos, which eventually led to a collection of 59 black-and-white images entitled "Anatomy of an Avenue."
"Anatomy of an Avenue" captures images of people and places along North Avenue's 16-mile stretch that begins at the lakefront and ends in Pewaukee. The images are arranged in order from the far east end of the street to the far west.
"This was something I have always wanted to do," says Miner, who grew up in Wauwatosa. "I chose North Avenue because it connects more neighborhoods, communities, cities and counties than any other major thoroughfare in the metropolitan area. It is a microcosm of who we are as a community, both what unites us and divides us."
The collection premiered in the Inova-Kenilworth Gallery in late 2009. This summer, Miner is working to compile the images into a book. Miner has been a writer and editor for more than 30 years and, more recently, an avid photographer. Her writing appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, Mothering, Milwaukee Magazine and more. She was a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from 1987 to 1991.
Miner walked up and down North Avenue looking for interesting shots of the diverse thoroughfare. She talked to neighbors and business owners face-to-face and also wrote letters to explain her project. Most of the time, people were willing to participate.
"I encountered a lot of kids who wanted to pose. They would say, ‘Put it on Facebook!' But some of the older people were the opposite. They'd say something like, ‘I don't want my photo on the Internet,'" says Miner.
The collection ranges from a man smoking in front of the East Side library to a heart wrenching homicide vigil to a Brookfield homeowner on a riding mower. Some of the portraits are very posed whereas others are completely candid and in-the-moment. All of them uncover raw human emotion from joy to hope to pain.
"The photos range from the poorest neighborhoods in the city to the most affluent in the country," says Miner.
After growing up in Wauwatosa, Miner moved to Chili, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, lived in New York City and then moved back to Milwaukee in 1986. She has two grown daughters and is married to Rethinking Schools editor, Bob Peterson.
"We got married the year of the cryptosporidium," says Miner.
In addition to the book, Miner is currently working on a project revolving around Milwaukee's unemployment and on a history of Milwaukee Public Schools. She plans to have "Anatomy of an Avenue" in book form by the end of the summer.
According to Miner, taking the bus down North Avenue is an education in itself, and one that she recommends.
"Forget taking an Urban Studies class," she says. "Take the North Avenue bus. You can live your whole life in Milwaukee and not really know Milwaukee."
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
