New Exhibit At Griffin Museum Includes Ashley Gilbertdon and Mark Peterson

Via The Griffin Museum of Photography

Vision(ary) is the Griffin Museum of Photography’s annual summer public art exhibition dedicated to the art of visual storytelling. This public art installation features individual exhibitions with distinct photographic styles, including banners hung on light standards and art installations around the Griffin Museum.

From the Civil Rights Movement to contemporary struggles for racial equity, gender justice, environmental protection, labor rights, immigration reform, and democratic accountability, protest has shaped the American narrative.

Photography has been central to this history—documenting resistance, amplifying voices, and creating images that define collective memory.

In the light of America’s 250th anniversary, this year’s edition, Raising Our Voices, presents photographic projects that focus on advocacy, social justice, and activism within the United States—past or present.

Vision(ary) is supported by the Winchester Cultural District, Winchester Cultural Council, John & Mary Murphy Foundation, En Ka Society, Winchester Rotary, Winchester Savings Bank, Griffin Museum Directors Circle, and other cultural and private partners. The exhibition concept and Photo Cube structures are designed by our long time producing partner, Photoville.

Ashley Gilbertson

Ashley Gilbertson

An Occupy Wall Street demonstrator is arrested on Broadway and Wall Street on November 17, 2011

On September 14, 2008, financial markets around the world plummeted, heralding the beginning of the current economic crisis, the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Bear Sterns and Lehmann Bros. went bankrupt overnight, and trillions of dollars were invested by the federal government in bail-outs and loans. The nucleus for the crash was Wall Street, where high risk complex bonds turned into toxic assets and unregulated trading imploded.

Three blocks from the Stock Exchange and almost exactly three years later, the Occupy Wall Street protest movement began.

For two months hundreds of people occupied a small wind swept plaza known as Zuccotti Park, where tents, a kitchen, a library, and a twenty-four hour drum circle were quickly set up. Occupiers represented hundreds of different causes, though their overarching frustrations lay with economic inequality and corporate greed. Their slogan “We are the 99%” referred to the enormous income gap between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.

These pictures depict Wall Street during the crash in 2008 and the Occupy movement of 2011. --Ashley Gilbertson

Mark Peterson

“The Memory Hole is a look at America from November 5, 2024 when President Trump was elected to a second term, till the present, how it has changed America.  I am photographing this time for others to see knowing that in the future these images will be dismissed as fake news . As in The Memory Hole in George Orwell’s book 1984, the truth will be burned: ‘There was a memory hole in the opposite wall. O’Brien lifted the grating. Unseen, the frail slip of paper was whirling away on the current of warm air; it was vanishing in a flash of flame. O’Brien turned away from the wall. ‘Ashes,’ he said. ‘Not even identifiable ashes. Dust. It does not exist. It never existed.'” --Mark Peterson

Ashley Gilbertson and Mark Peterson have photographs included in the current exhibition "America The Beautiful", on view at Monroe Gallery through August 9, 2026.

Gallery Talk - RYAN VIZZIONS: From Standing Rock To Minneapolis

  

                                       

Ryan Vizzions: Faces of Fascism, Minneapolis, January, 2026

On July 4, 2026, our nation will commemorate and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence amid the erosion of civil rights, human rights, and democratic norms. Monroe Gallery presents a special Artist Talk in conjunction with the current exhibition "America The Beautiful".

In September of 2016, Ryan Vizzions traveled from Atlanta, Georgia to stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock NoDAPL movement. Bringing his camera with him, but not intending to be a media source, Vizzions soon found himself using social media to reach over half a billion people with his documentation of events unfolding over the months and helped bring awareness around the world to the movement.

In late 2020 Vizzions embarked on a long term, multi-year project traveling and photographing across the United States to create a photography book documenting all 50 states. Vizzions documented "Operation Metro Surge" in January, 2026 by ICE in Minneapolis involving roughly 3,000 federal agents, leading to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti. His phootograph of a masked ICE agent appeared as a full-page spread in the February 1 edition of The New York Times Opinion section.

Vizzions has contributed considerable time to photographing and archiving the street memorial of Renee Good.



Thursday, July 2, 2026

Starting promptly at 5:30 pm. Seating is limited and live on Zoom

RSVP essential to info@monroegallery.com or 505 992 0800

Zoom registration here

Schapiro’s stunning images of jazz greats in New York – from Dizzy Gillespie to Elvin Jones – make up a new book featuring a foreword by late saxophone icon Sonny Rollins

 June 3, 2026

Dizzy Gillespie, Apollo theatre, New York, 1962.  Photograph by Steve Schapiro

The Guardian: ‘It’ll never be like that again’: Sonny Rollins and Steve Schapiro on jazz’s golden age – in pictures

Vanity Fair: The Late Sax Master Sonny Rollins on Steve Schapiro’s Forgotten Photos of Jazz Giants

WBGO: Steve Schapiro’s Jazz: History hiding in plain sight for 60 years

Sonny Rollins, Apollo Theater, New York, 1962. Photograph by Steve Schapiro

Please contact the Gallery for fine art print details.

SEIZED transforms a headline-grabbing event into a deeply human story that is urgent, unsettling, and impossible to ignore

 Via DC/Dox'26

May 31, 2026

A gripping, stranger-than-fiction investigative thriller, SEIZED plunges audiences inside the troubling police raid on the Marion County Record. What begins as a shocking small-town incident quickly spirals into a national story, exposing how corruption, politics, and decades-long tensions turned a quiet Kansas community into a battleground over the First and Fourth Amendments. The film unfolds in real time through police body-cam and surveillance footage, revealing the chaos of the raid, the bombshells that followed, and the devastating personal toll on the newsroom, including the tragic death of its 98-year-old co-owner.

Director Sharon Liese allows the story to unfold with nuance, surprise, eccentric characters, and moments of humor. By letting each voice speak for itself, she crafts a rare documentary in which sympathies shift moment to moment, revealing how truth, ego, and fear collide in real time. Blending the juicy intrigue of a classic muckraking narrative with a clear-eyed exploration of power, politics, and the fragility of a free press, SEIZED transforms a headline-grabbing event into a deeply human story that is urgent, unsettling, and impossible to ignore.

Saturday, June 13

1:30 PM - 3:15 PM

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

641 D St NW, Washington, DC 20004

More info

Broken fingers and busted cameras: Photojournalists say ICE targeted them during wild clash outside Delaney Hall

Via amNY

May 29. 2026

Mark Peterson: ICE officer confronts protesters, Delaney Hall, NJ, May 26 2026

"The First Amendment freedom of the press was not enough to shield photojournalists from assault by ICE agents outside Delaney Hall late on Thursday night.

Photojournalists in federal agents’ sights

As the night grew later, several photojournalists alleged they were purposely targeted and attacked by some of the agents.

Reuters photojournalist Ryan Murphy told amNewYork that he was beaten with a baton over the last several nights, and on Thursday, they aimed for his camera. He believes the blow they struck broke a finger.

“I had just photographed a guy on the ground getting bear-sprayed in the face, turned around to another protester getting shoved or something, and I was just hit by a baton in the finger next to my flash, and yeah, my hand just went numb. My flash flew on the ground,” Murphy recalled. “There is a big gash on my middle finger. It was bleeding pretty badly, I think it’s broken.”

Murphy ultimately left the scene and transported himself to a local hospital for treatment.

Another photographer alleged she was purposefully shoved to the ground. Madison Swart, a frequent contributor to The New York Times, said she was documenting the clash when an agent struck her with a baton, knocking her to the ground.

“I was moving back as they were asking us to and I got shoved with a baton, and I fell because it was very forceful. And then another agent did help me up, but it wasn’t the same one that pushed me,” Swart said. “I was just a little in shock, just because I’ve never fallen while shooting before, and so I, I’m kind of like still trying to process in my head how I could have reacted maybe a little bit better, but at the same time, when someone who is like twice my body size pushes me, I don’t know if there’s much more I can really do.”

Another photographer could be seen huddling in the fetal position as agents trampled over her, while another prominent photographer, who asked not to be named, had the top of his camera smashed."

Full article with photographs here.

Stars and Strife: Monroe Gallery of Photography Exhibition Puts Sharp Focus on Images of Division and Democracy in Peril

 Via Pasatiempo

By Ania Hull

May 22, 2026

David Butow's photograph of "A protester at Ferguson police headquarters two nights after the Grand Jury decision, November 24, 2014" on the cover of Pasatiempo

“I think I was mistaken in thinking that democracy was a birthright,” Michelle Monroe says.

The co-owner of Monroe Gallery of Photography is sitting behind a large desk at the front of the art space, with her husband, Sidney Monroe. The two gallerists and curators are both warm and sharp and have no qualms about speaking their minds on the theme reflected in their latest show: America is in serious trouble.

The walls of the gallery that are visible from the front desk are filled with dozens of prints by photojournalists who’ve witnessed first-hand that "trouble" the Monroes speak of: they illustrate discrimination, racism, social and political violence, erasure of history, poverty, and the crumbling of one of the world’s oldest modern democracies. The prints are all part of America the Beautiful, a new group exhibition that opened earlier this month and runs through August 9.

The Monroes contend that some people refuse to see an unwashed version of their country — and also concede that it is difficult to look at photos that unveil the difficult, distressing, and ugly moments of American history. But the goal of this exhibition, the Monroes say, is to bring the issues to light in the hope that viewers will not turn away.

The exhibition commemorates the 250th anniversary of the birth of the nation and of the American experiment, doing it in a way that shows a beautiful America with gorgeous vistas but also reveals a side that viewers might be less comfortable seeing, the scenes of the United States of America hidden behind Old Glory.

“We were seeing exhibitions and plans being put into place for commemorating the 250th anniversary,” Sydney says, “and we’ve seen a lot of sanitization of our reality.

“One of the great benefits of representing photojournalists is that they document history,” he adds. “Their photographs are evidence.”

The photographs are from a range of eras, beginning in the 1930s up to this year, and reflect varying topics, such as protests, veterans, immigrants' rights, and symbols of poverty and other financial hardships.

And perhaps these images aren't the ones we want to see to inspire us to celebrate this national milestone but rather represent, the Monroes say, an opportunity to face our demons.

It begins with the flag

The Monroes keep a glass container on their front desk filled with individually wrapped whistles of the same kind anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis used to alert their immigrant neighbors of an imminent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid.

Ryan Vizzions: Faces of Fascism, Minneapolis, January, 2026

The Monroes share these whistles with gallery visitors. Last year, they gave out “Good Trouble” pins. This summer, Michelle says, they will distribute pins bearing an upside-down American flag, a symbol of distress.

A photo by independent photojournalist Tracy Barbutes in America the Beautiful shows an upside-down American flag hanging from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. It was hung in protest of the thousands of federal job cuts that President Trump’s administration imposed early in 2025.

Many other prints in America the Beautiful feature various depictions of the American flag, many showing it as a symbol of identity, joy, and hope but also of oppression and violence.

“I suppose the American flag is like the crown,” Michelle says. “We formed against a monarchy, but we still needed a universal symbol, and the interpretation of the flag depends on who's holding it.”

Sanjay Suchak:  Scene from a birthday party…Washington, Dc, June 14, 2025

In another print in the exhibition — the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Soiling of Old Glory” that Boston Herald American photographer Stanley J. Forman took in 1976 during an anti-bussing protest in Boston — the American flag is used as weapon: A white teenager, Joseph Rakes, holds it by its pole and thrusts it finial toward Black activist and lawyer Ted Landsmark, who’s being helped to his feet by another person.

In the 2006 photograph “Ty with Flags” by documentary photographer and filmmaker Nina Berman, young Marine Sgt. Tyler Ziegel stands on the porch of his house in the shadow of a large American flag. Ziegel was seriously wounded during his second tour in Iraq by a suicide car bomber. He died in 2012 of heroin and alcohol poisoning. This photo was taken the morning of his wedding, which ended in divorce that same year.

Berman says the photo of Ziegel and others in her series of veteran photos show the realities of war and the toll of the American flag on the bodies of soldiers who’d been sent to fight for it, often not even understanding what the conflict was about.

Ron Haviv: Anti ICE protestors clash with ICE agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building during a protest January 17, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota

The atrocities continue through current events. Noted human rights photojournalist Ron Haviv's image in the show depicts a scene in Minneapolis on January 17 as anti-ICE protestors clash with ICE agents outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. The American flag in Haviv’s photo obscures more than half of the scene but gives prominent focus to an ICE agent in full police-like uniform, with a bullet-proof vest and a mask reminiscent of gas masks from WWII. Behind him are other ICE agents in helmets and one in a makeshift mask made from a neck warmer.

Flags appear throughout America the Beautiful, often as a reminder that the American dream of freedom, equality, justice, opportunity is not a given.

“There’s a constant tension,” Sidney says, “between those who want to expand freedom and people’s opportunities, and people who want to restrict and determine who can be given an opportunity and who cannot.”

“You are not entitled to democracy,” Michelle adds, returning to her earlier remark that democracy is not a birthright. “It’s a responsibility. In the preamble of the Constitution, it says we must form a more perfect union. Well, now I understand that this is the responsibility of every single day. Just as a parent loves and nurtures a child, we must do the same with democracy.”

Photojournalist Ryan Vizzions’ photograph of a man standing atop a sign at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta during the May 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in response to the police killing of George Floyd symbolizes those who stand up against injustice and refuse to remain silent.

In the photo, the young man's sign reads “Black Lives Matter” in large letters. As he wields the flag, he tilts his face toward the sky, his mouth open, and he screams.

source article here

details

America the Beautiful

Opening reception is 4-6 p.m. Saturday, May 23; exhibition runs through August 9

Monroe Gallery of Photography

112 Don Gaspar

505-992-0800; monroegallery.com

America The Beautiful - Reception Saturday, May 23 4-6 PM

 Exhibition of compelling and provocative photographs illustrating America, American life, and the American people as the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday amid the erosion of civil rights, human rights, and democratic norms.

On July 4, 2026, our nation will commemorate and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “America The Beautiful” confronts the idea that “American” is a uniform, monolithic identity at a critical time when our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising, federal civil rights laws have been weakened and the foundations of the country’s racially inclusive democracy are being challenged

Through more than 40 enthralling images, “America The Beautiful” explores the rituals, celebrations, social change, history, and memories of the American nation. Photographs in the exhibit depict major events and everyday life; themes of patriotism, memory, conflict, and identity; and documents Americans struggling for their freedom; their right to live without fear, their right to speak and the right to protest inequities.

View the exhibition here.

‘You look at it and you just feel better’: this year’s Photoville festival highlights

 Via The Guardian

May 15, 2026

Ashley Gilbertson and Ava Pellor - Puppies Behind Bars. Photograph: Ashley Gilbertson and Ava Pellor

"The extremely moving collection Puppies Behind Bars is the fruit of the nearly two years that photographers Ashley Gilbertson and Ava Pellor spent in the men’s maximum security Green Haven, documenting the titular program wherein those incarcerated raise puppies to become service dogs. Organization founder Gloria Gilbert Stoga shared that she instinctively knew that she wanted a war photographer to document what happened behind bars, because of the extreme nature of prisons.

“I wanted a war photographer, because going into prison isn’t something you can articulate to people who aren’t in prison,” Stoga said. “My assumption is that you also can’t articulate war. I needed people who could stay emotionally removed from the subject.”

Gilbertson, who is renowned for his photos of the Iraq war, fit that description, and was joined by Pellor, who has captured extreme experiences such as wildfires and illegal border crossings in the Balkans. Their photos take viewers into terrain that is both brutal and hidden, revealing how the act of raising a dog can transform this horrifying reality.

The dogs humanize an environment that’s devoid of all humanity,” said Gilbertson. “It gives men who have committed grave crimes against society a chance to do something, it gives men a chance to show weakness and vulnerability to be emotionally open and playful, it gives them a sense of responsibility. For the first time in their lives these men are sticking with something when it becomes tough.”

Pellor recalled in particular a photo she made of one of the men in the program when he received his puppy to raise, the act of receiving the dog bringing tears. “I think it was their first time taking them out for a walk in the yard, and he just put his head up to the puppy’s head and started crying,” said Pellor. “After that, he wouldn’t let him go that entire day.” ---full article

Photographer Gabriela Campos is having quite the year

 Via The Santa Fe New Mexican

By Bill Church

May 10, 2026

Gabriela Campos is proof that curiosity can turn into a career. A shy kid into a visual star. No doubt.

The Santa Fe New Mexican photographer’s career has gained a national following, yet no one who knows her is surprised.

Gabriela recently was named the inaugural recipient of the national Nick Oza Visual Fellowship as selected by Altavoz Lab, founded by award-winning journalist Valeria Fernández on the belief that “strong local journalism strengthens democracy.” The fellowship is named after Oza, the Pulitzer-winning photojournalist known for mentoring others and forging important connections in Arizona’s immigrant communities before his death in 2021.

Gabriela will continue to work for The New Mexican during her fellowship while also tackling a 12-month project of documenting the “unsung women of New Mexico’s lowrider culture.”

Gabriela’s project work landed her on the May 2025 cover of High Country News magazine. And National Geographic recently selected her work for inclusion.

For those traveling to Washington, D.C., this summer, spend time at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History along the National Mall. You’ll find Gabriela’s images prominently displayed in the Marcia and Frank Carlucci Hall of Culture and the Arts located on 3 West.

If you go online to the Corazón y vida: Lowriding Culture site, you’ll immediately find one of Gabriela’s photos. The exhibit describes lowriding culture as “artistic expression, technological innovations, and storytelling that reflects Mexican American and Chicano culture and identity.” (Educators and anyone curious will find plenty of media-rich resources in the Smithsonian’s Learning Lab tied to the exhibit.)

I recently took a trip to Washington, D.C., where seeing Gabriela’s art was a must-see, must-smile moment. I also sent Gabriela a short list of questions, which she responded to between assignments and everything else going on in her life.

Her answers were so illuminating that I shifted from a typical column about Gabriela and the exhibit to this Q&A format (with some light editing).

Not surprising, Gabriela’s story is best told by Gabriela:

How did you learn your work had been accepted by the Smithsonian?

The process started years ago. I had just gotten home from a shift at the newspaper when my phone buzzed — it was an email from Steve Velasquez, a curator at the Smithsonian. He was interested in talking about my lowrider work in New Mexico. That was June 2021. After a few emails and calls, I submitted a portfolio. From there, everything fell into place.

Why has lowrider culture interested you? Has it influenced how you tell stories through your images?

Growing up in New Mexico, lowrider culture is always there, just at the edges of everyday life. You see cars cruising the Plaza, and it becomes part of your visual memory. I remember in kindergarten, my friend Domino brought in the song “Low Rider” by War for show and tell — that moment stuck with me.

As I got older, especially in high school, I became more drawn to cruise culture. Growing up in Santa Fe, you have to be creative to entertain yourself as a teenager. My friends and I would spend hours driving around town and hanging out in parking lots — not in particularly cool cars, but there was something freeing about it. That sense of movement, community and expression continues to shape how I tell stories through my images.

What was it like for you to see the exhibit in Washington, D.C.?

The exhibit was postponed for a couple of years due to COVID and the complexity of putting a show like that together. For a while, I wasn’t sure it would happen at all. So when the date was finally set, it felt unreal — and being there in person was even more surreal.

Seeing my photos on the wall brought me back to the exact moments they were taken: my first hopping competition in Española, Holy Thursday outside the Santuario de Chimayó, chasing a gold Impala down East San Francisco Street to catch it perfectly framed against the cathedral — while my mom followed behind me to make sure I didn’t get hit by a car.

Looking at the images, I saw friends and familiar faces. I didn’t feel far from home.

One of my favorite moments happened during the rollout after the festivities of opening day at the museum came to a close. A car club from Virginia lined up outside the museum. A rollout is when cars leave together — horns blaring, hopping, riding on three wheels — it’s a moment to show off. I was on the sidewalk taking photos, like I do at home, but this felt different. To my left were Estevan Oriol and Lou Dematteis — legends in lowrider photography. To my right was my 7-year-old nephew, Henry, crouched down, filming the cars weaving down the street. My mom, sister, and best friend were nearby, taking it all in.

The car club had blocked off the street, and the cars performed in front of these grand, pillared buildings. It felt like a collision of worlds — New Mexico lowrider culture meeting Washington, D.C. — and it was beautiful.

As the cars disappeared down the road, Oriol and Dematteis turned to me and asked if I’d take a photo with them. I couldn’t believe it — that they would want a picture with me, a newspaper photographer from New Mexico.

How did you become a photographer? What sparked this passion?

Up until about fifth or sixth grade, the world was a blur. Then I got glasses, and suddenly everything changed. Trees that once looked like green smudges had definition — I could see individual leaves, texture, detail. That shift gave me a deep appreciation for the visual world, and I think it’s part of why I became a photographer.

During my senior year of high school, I took my first photography class, and right away I knew it was something I wanted to pursue. It just felt right. Having a camera felt like being handed a key — a way to open doors and connect with people.

As a shy kid, I was just as curious — and my camera became a way to step into conversations, explore the world around me, and tell stories I otherwise wouldn’t have been part of. After that first class, I never stopped taking pictures.

For years after, I tried to convince myself photography wasn’t a practical path. How would I make it? How could I survive as a photographer? But every road kept leading me back to photojournalism. Eventually, I stopped resisting and accepted that this is what I’m meant to do. I’m grateful it worked out and that I kept going when it wasn’t always easy.

AIPAD and the beautiful problem of photography’s market power

 Via amNY

May 6, 2026

"The extraordinary show-out for AIPAD this year seems to prove something the art world has been whispering for years and is, perhaps, finally ready to say aloud: photography has arrived not as a secondary medium, not as decorative evidence, not as the tasteful cousin of painting, but as one of the most intellectually potent, historically loaded, and emotionally exacting forms in the contemporary market.

At The Photography Show presented by AIPAD, held at the Park Avenue Armory from April 22–26, 2026, the medium was given the scale, seriousness, and theatricality it has long deserved. The fair brought together international exhibitors, historically significant work, contemporary experimentation, and the newly introduced Focal Point sector, which emphasized solo presentations and lens-based practices that expand the definition of what photography has been and what it may still become. AIPAD, organized in 1979, remains a defining expert voice for fine art photography dealers, and its flagship fair is described as the longest-running exhibition dedicated to the photographic medium in the world."--full article

View the Monroe Gallery exhibit at The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD here.

Observer "In an Age of Image Overload, AIPAD’s The Photography Show Reminds Us What a Photograph Can Do"