Previous Exhibit | A Life of Concern

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The Photography of Jean Shifrin

As a Kansas City native, Jean Shifrin was thrilled the best photojournalism program in the country was practically in her own backyard. She was graduated in 1979 with a photojournalism degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. After graduation, she worked three years at the St. Joseph News-Press, where she was the first female photojournalist ever hired there. She then spent several years as an assistant in a Kansas City commercial photography studio. For nearly five years, Shifrin was a staff photographer at The Kansas City Star, photographing numerous Sunday magazine stories as well as honing her skills in the studio shooting fashion. While at The Star, she received the Nikon Documentary Sabbatical Grant in 1989 to photograph “Parents Again – Grandparents Who Are Raising Their Grandchildren.”

In 1990, Shifrin became a staff photographer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. While there, she photographed many celebrities as well as traveled the world covering a wide range of stories. Her photographs won the Society of Professional Journalists Award for Non-Deadline Reporting, as well as the Overseas Press Award for Best Correspondent in Any Medium Showing A Concern For the Human Condition. Another long-term project “When Children Die,” in which she documented terminally ill children in one of the few children’s hospices in the country, won a Clarion Award. Shifrin has been a judge for the Pictures of the Year contest in Columbia, and she was a faculty member at the Missouri School of Journalism in 1990. In 2008, she was a featured speaker at the school’s centennial. After 25 years as an award-winning photojournalist, she left newspapers to start her own business in 2005, specializing in portraiture and documentary photography of babies and children. She regularly travels to India to document the work of Rising Star Outreach, whose goal is to eradicate leprosy and to improve the lives of those who are affected by it. Also, Shifrin volunteers with Flashes of Hope, an organization that works with professional photographers to create beautiful portraits of children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

A family poses for a photo outside their home.
The Butcher family in front of their trailer home. From left: Rita holding JJ, 3; Jim; and Jerry, 16. The Butchers moved to this trailer in the country when their house burned down in 1982.
An elderly man eats from a bowl as a young child stands next to him.
Although JJ can be a mischievous child, she is quick to respond to the feelings of others, especially her aging grandparents. Here, JJ shares a tender moment with her grandfather, who is recovering from a fall.
A young child presses against the back of their older teenage brother.
JJ adores her brother Jerry. He used to give her quite a bit of attention, but now that he is 16 and driving, he doesn’t have much time for his little sister.
An elderly woman stands in field reading her mail as a young child presses their face against the elderly woman's legs.
Rita includes JJ in most of her activities, even if it’s only a trip to the mailbox.
An elderly man and his granddaughter take a nap on a bed.
“About the only way you can get a nap is when she lays down,” Rita says.
An elderly couple sit in reclining chairs.
After a day’s work, Rita falls asleep, fly swatter in hand, while watching television.
An elderly woman sits in a rocking chair as she talks to her young grandchild as the child stands naked holding a cat.
JJ always wants to bring Tom inside, and Rita always tells her to take the cat out.
An elderly man sits in a recliner as a child rolls around on the floor.
When grandpa babysits, it’s chaos until Rita gets home.
An elderly man sits in a chair watching his grandchild crawl under a tall end table.
JJ is always getting into or climbing on things she shouldn’t. “I sometimes work on her with the fly swatter,” Jim says.
A young child stands a cat up on its rear legs.
“My ‘tat!'” JJ squeals. Despite daily sessions of pulling, dragging and other humiliations, Tom remain’s JJ’s faithful friend.
An elderly man holds a baby
Now that JJ is gone to a babysitter while Rita is at work, Jim’s days are spent holding, feeding and changing the baby.
A baby lies in a bed.
James Joseph, 7 weeks old. The cycle continues with the newest member of Jim and Rita’s household. “I didn’t want a new baby,” Rita says. “I told our daughter we couldn’t raise him, we’re too old. She said we have to take him.”
Photos of pictures on a wall.
A pile of baby clothes sits beneath photographs of JJ and an embroidery.
A young child changes the diaper of their infant sibling.
By practicing on her dolls, JJ has become a competent diaper changer.
An elderly woman changes a baby's diaper on a couch as an elderly man sits at the end of the same couch.
The days ahead are full of many more diaper changes for Jim and Rita.