Hearn documented outcasts because he felt like an outcast himself—abandoned by both parents, shunted off to Cincinnati at the age of 19 by his aunt’s family, arriving here homeless and with a disfigured left eye from a childhood accident. Hearn was homeless until he found work documenting those in worse shape than he was. Because of his Greek heritage, he was seen as an ‘Oriental’, NOT white. Because of his left eye, he felt like a freak of nature. Because of his abandonment, he felt unmoored and insecure. So he identified with others who suffered similar, often much worse, troubles. Hearn made his name as the “Dismal Man'“, documenting the slaughterhouses, whorehouses, gravediggers, ragpickers, and others ground under the thumb of industry in the urban wasteland of Cincinnati’s poorest neighborhoods—including Bucktown, now a parking lot behind Proctor and Gamble headquarters. Hearn gained access to these neighborhoods by befriending cops and people who lived and worked in them. One such figure was Althea Foley, with whom Hearn fell in love and married. Because she was black, marriage between them was illegal, but they found a black AME minister to perform a ceremony in his home. Hearn being a prickly and difficult dude, the relationship soon ran into trouble, and they parted ways. But Foley provided Hearn with many stories and access to an elusive community, as well as comfort and affection. After he died, she unsuccessfully sued for a portion of his estate, but because the marriage was never legalized, she lost. Her importance as a figure is buried, just like Bucktown, under the concrete behind P&G. By the way, FOUND a picture of her after doing this sketch—-at the 2019 Hearn symposium. Back to the drawing board, happily.
