Journalist James Foley traveled into the world’s most dangerous conflict zones to tell the stories of everyday people whose lives were ripped apart by war. In between his overseas trips to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, friends say he often returned to Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, where he had once lived and made friends among a tight-knit community of teachers, artists and activists.
“He had so many circles of friends he loved dearly but, in Pilsen especially, he had this extended family,” said April Goble, 39, who had been friends with Foley since their days in the 1990s with Teach for America.
After Foley’s murder in Syria on Aug. 19, his friends in Pilsen wondered how they could honor his memory. Someone recalled how Foley had loved the neighborhood’s vibrant murals — many of which depict the struggle for equality and justice, ideals close to Foley’s heart.
By the end of September, his friends had found an empty wall at the corner of West 18th and South Bishop streets, across from Café Jumping Bean, where Foley, a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, had often gone to write. A group of about 10 people worked nearly around the clock to paint the mural by Oct. 18, which would have been Foley’s 41st birthday.
With bright yellow and blue paints, they recreated one of the last photos taken of Foley, when he was working in November of 2012 in Aleppo, Syria. In it, he sits on a bench, wearing a keffiyeh-style scarf around his shoulders; in his hands, he’s holding a microphone.
“He had this way of seeing the good in other people,” said Goble. That, in turn, made people want to live up to what Foley saw and, she said, “be their highest selves.”
Foley’s friends expect to make the finishing touches on the mural in the spring, when the weather warms. They hope the image will remind people of how Foley lived, rather than how he died. And, they hope others might be inspired to paint murals of Foley in other cities.
“He was such a beautiful person,” said Goble.
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