Esther Parada died after a long illness on Oct. 19, 2005, at the age of 67. Esther was an artist/photographer who has been a member of UIC’s School of Art & Design since 1974. She has a long history of high profile involvement in fine arts and activist arenas. She was born in Grand Rapids, MI, and received her MFA from Pratt. Her career began in the mid-60s when she served with the U.S. Peace Corps as art instructor at the Escuela de Artes Plasticas, Universidad de San Francisco Xavier, in Sucre, Bolivia. Since that time, Professor Parada has written critical articles on Latin American photography and cultural politics for art and photography journals such as Afterimage, Aperture, and Exposure. Her essay “C/Overt Ideology: Two Im! ages of Revolution” is anthologized in The Contest of Meaning (MIT Press, 1989); and her long-term concern with U.S. media and documentary practice in relation to Third World countries led to the creation of a multi-media essay “To Make All Mankind Acquaintances”, published as part of the CD-ROM Three Works by the California Museum of Photography in 1996. Deeply loved, she is survived by her son, Adam Wilson; her brother, Benjamin Glaser, two sisters, Margo Davion and Susan Peters; four nieces and nephews including Rachael Peters, Jesse Peters, Raoul (Ghip) Davion and Simone Davion; and numerous friends and family by whom she will be greatly missed. Services will be held at the Unity Temple in Oak Park, IL, 875 Lake Street, at 7 p.m., Monday, October 24.
