"POOL POSITIONS" Exhibit Features Gallery Photographer Anna Boyiazis

Via Kunstkreis Gräfelfing e.V.

October 8 – November 1, 2026

The exhibition features site-specific works by 30 renowned international artists inside a defunct indoor swimming pool. The installations, sculptures, and paintings inherently focus on themes of bathing, water, human body culture, and spatial perception.

The exhibit includes a special installation in the water, an interactive photographic series, videos in niches and adjoining rooms, photography, painting, printmaking, sculpture and objects.

In this way, the walls, shower rooms, lockers, changing rooms, stairs and corridors of the place can be experienced by visitors as new experience spaces.

Vernissage

Thursday, 08.10.2026
From 6 p.m.
Admission is free.

Opening hours
every Thursday to Sunday from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
on Thursday, October 8, the exhibition opens with the vernissage at 6 p.m.

Exhibition Venue
Old swimming pool in the Lochham primary school
Adalbert Stifter Platz 1
82166 Gräfelfing

Anna Boyiazis is a documentary photographer working between Southern California and East Africa. Her work focuses on conservation, human rights, public health, and women and girls, drawing on long-term, community-embedded storytelling.

The Zanzibar archipelago, where the pictures were taken, is economically and spiritually closely linked to the sea. But half of its population does not dare to go into the water for fear of drowning!

While many boys acquire basic swimming skills by the age of 10, girls have so far been discouraged from learning to swim because there were no swimsuits to cover the body. Swimming lessons also challenge a patriarchal system that prevents women from engaging in activities other than domestic tasks.

Thanks to some grassroots organizations that provide full-body swimsuits and promote swimming lessons, women and girls are now taking to the water. The participants are thus empowered to teach others, creating a cycle that makes the sea accessible to all.

 

The Samuel L. and Elizabeth Jodidi Lecture with Ron Haviv: Testimony (1989–2026)

 

Speaker

Ron Haviv, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and award-winning photojournalist. Director of The VII Foundation.

Testimony (1989–2026)

October 22, 2026

05:00PM - 06:30PM EDT

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs

Harvard University
Tsai Auditorium (Room S010), CGIS South Building
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Register here

This event is open to the public and will be recorded. Please register to attend. There will be a public viewing of the exhibition and reception before the lecture, 4:00–4:45 p.m. Please plan on being seated at 4:45 p.m. as the event will start promptly at 5:00 p.m.   

Content Advisory: This presentation includes graphic photographs and video documenting armed conflict, violence, and their aftermath. Viewer discretion is advised.

For more than thirty-five years, Ron Haviv has documented many of the defining events of our time. Through a visual presentation, he explores the realities of conflict and the ethical, practical, and personal challenges of visual journalism, from Central America and the Balkans to the Arab Spring, Ukraine, and an increasingly polarized United States. 

Throughout his career, Haviv has focused on documenting human rights abuses and the consequences of war, including three genocides. Drawing on his experiences in the field, he reflects on the role of the photographer—as witness, observer, and, at times, participant—and explores the ethical responsibilities of documenting history as it unfolds. The lecture also asks what responsibility belongs to the audience. Is witnessing enough, or does seeing create an obligation to understand, remember, and act? 

The presentation weaves together a series of short films with commentary and stories from the field, providing context for the images and an inside look at the challenges and responsibilities of visual journalism.

Take a look at the work of visual artist Ron Haviv >

Chair

Melani Cammett, Center Director; Chair, Weatherhead Research Cluster on Identity and Conflict. Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Department of Government, Harvard University.

Speaker Biography

Ron Haviv is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and an award-winning photojournalist. He co-founded VII Photo Agency and The VII Foundation, where he currently serves as a director. He is dedicated to documenting conflict and raising human rights issues around the globe.

Haviv’s first photography book, Blood and Honey: A Balkan War Journal, was called “One of the best non-fiction books of the year,” by The Los Angeles Times and “A chilling but vastly important record of a people’s suffering” by Newsweek. His other monographs are Afghanistan: The Road to Kabul, Haiti: 12 January 2010, The Lost Rolls, and Shadow of Memory.

Haviv has produced an unflinching record of the injustices of war covering over twenty-five conflicts and his photography has had singular impact. His work in the Balkans, which spanned over a decade of conflict, was used as evidence to indict and convict war criminals at the international tribunal in The Hague. President George H. W. Bush cited Haviv’s chilling photographs documenting paramilitary violence in Panama as one of the reasons for the 1989 American intervention.

His work is in the collections of The Getty, Eastman House and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston amongst others and has been seen in numerous other museums and galleries, including the Louvre, United Nations, Council on Foreign Relations, Fotografiska, and the International Center of Photography.

Haviv has co-created multi-platform projects for Doctors Without Borders’ DR Congo: The Forgotten War and Starved for Attention, Unicef’s Child Alert for Darfur and Sri Lanka and the International Committee of the Red Cross’s World at War. His commercial clients include Ad Council, American Express, BAE, Canon USA, ESPN, IBM, and Volkswagen.

Haviv is the central character in six documentary films, including National Geographic Explorer’s Freelance in a World of Risk, in which he speaks about the dangers of combat photography, including his numerous detentions and close calls. 

He has provided expert analysis and commentary on ABC World News, BBC, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, and The Charlie Rose Show. He has written opinion pieces for The Washington Post and The New York Times and spoken at TEDx along with numerous other lectures at universities and conferences.

Through the Lens of a Photojournalist: Power, Fear, and Photographic Record

 Via Principles First

Thursday, September 24 • 11 AM - 12 PM MDT

Reserve a spot here

Virtual Town Hall with Nate Gowdy

Join Principles First for a different kind of virtual town hall — one told through photographs.

Seattle photojournalist Nate Gowdy will share photographs and firsthand observations from two very different events he documented on the ground: January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and, five years later, federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.

Gowdy photographed January 6 on assignment for Rolling Stone as a mob breached the Capitol and disrupted Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election. His book, INSURRECTION, is the only photojournalistic monograph devoted entirely to January 6, using timestamped photographs and contextual captions to chronicle the events on the ground as they unfolded.

In Minnesota this past January and February during Operation Metro Surge, Gowdy documented fear and uncertainty reaching into ordinary life—school pickups, grocery runs, work commutes—and residents organizing to observe federal agents, protest, distribute food, and care for neighbors.

These events are distinct. Having witnessed both, Gowdy will explore how power and fear take different forms—and how people respond when national events become immediate and personal.

The photographs begin the conversation. Gowdy will share what preceded and followed particular photographs, what he witnessed beyond the frames, and what he learned. Providing that context is part of his responsibility to the people he photographs and to the historical record—so the circumstances surrounding a photograph are not lost, distorted, or misrepresented.

See the photographs. Hear the stories.

Monroe Gallery Participates In Second Fall Of Freedom National Call For Creative Resistance

 

Monroe Gallery of Photography joins Fall Of Freedom with an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. On October 2,3, and 4 2026, plan to visit the exhibition Eugene Tapahe: ART HEALS, The Jingle Dress Project and Standing Rock Movement.

Additionally, in solidarity with of Fall Of Freedom, Monroe Gallery presents a Pop Up exhibition online of photographs documenting people struggling for their freedom; their right to live without fear, their right to speak and the right to protest inequities.

Tapahe documented the strength, unity, inspiration, resilience, and hope of the Indigenous-led movement that began in April 2016 to block the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.  He remembers the grace and courage of Jingle Dress dancers healing the trauma inflicted on the water protectors from  police and private security forces by water cannons, LRAD sound cannons, rubber bullets, pepper spray, mace, tear gas canisters and bean bag blasts. 

When asked “Why did you go to the Oceti Sakawin camp?”, Tapahe says “It was my responsibly to be there, to help our people, our ancestors, our water, and our land. It felt as if our ancestors were physically standing with us in unity around the sacred fire – singing and dancing with us. The spiritual awakening will be with me always as I continue my creative journey to photograph and document the beauty of Mother Earth and our people.”

Years later, Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project originated from a dream Tapahe had inspiring him to unite the land and people through the healing power of the Ojibwe jingle dress dance. The Jingle Dress Project has raised awareness of many Native American issues, such as land acknowledgment, women’s rights, and, most importantly, the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).  

Eugene Tapahe

Strength In Unity, Tetons National Park, the native land of the Shoshone, Bannock, Gros Ventre, and Nez Perce People, 2021

Fall Of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping our nation. Our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising. Dissent is being criminalized. Institutions and media have been recast as mouthpieces of propaganda.

Fall of Freedom returns for its second year — expanding the national call to creative resistance. FoF is an open instigation to artists, venues and institutions across all disciplines to put your work in the world on October 2nd, 3rd, & 4th, countering fascist repression and censorship with joyful communities of defiant creativity. Art matters. Courage is contagious.

National list of events.

Due process gutted. Universities threatened and defunded. Students kidnapped. Migrants deported. Troops deployed. Racism rampant. Cruelty celebrated. Political leaders arrested. Citizenship stripped. Health care shredded. Women's rights rescinded. Wealth concentrated. Free speech eliminated. Genocide normalized. Science undermined. Arts assaulted. Journalism targeted. Departments shuttered. Grants rescinded. Trans banned. Lawyers capitulating. Coup makers pardoned. Budgets slashed. Abortion outlawed. Courts stacked. Boards replaced. Police unleashed. Nazis emboldened. Bombs dropped.

This is why we must resist.

Eugene Tapahe Exhibit Highlighted in Pasatiempo "Fall arrives with a full slate of new exhibitions across The City Different"

 Fall arrives with a full slate of new exhibitions across The City Different

By Ania Hull

September 18, 2026

Eugene Tapahe (Diné) had a dream as the pandemic unfolded: He was sitting in a field of grass in Yellowstone National Park, watching bison, when he heard the sound of jingles. Then, jingle-dress dancers began appearing in front of him.

“It’s as if they were dancing with the bison to the rhythm of a silent drum,” Tapahe writes on the Navajo Strong website. “It was beautiful and peaceful.”

The jingle dress was used by the Ojibwe people to help cure the afflicted. Over the years, it has become a pan-Native American symbol of strength and resistance to Indigenous people outside the Ojibwe nation.

Together with his family and friends, Tapahe, a photographer and multimedia artist who often brings his work to the SWAIA Indian Market, decided to act on that dream.

He and his relatives formed the Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project (see “Saved by the Bells,” August 15, 2025). Photographs from the project are on exhibit through November 1 at the Monroe Gallery of Photography. Added to the exhibition are photographs that Tapahe took at the Standing Rock pipeline protests in 2016 and during demonstrations in Minneapolis this past winter.

Eugene Tapahe

Jingle Dress Dance, Standing Rock Camp (Highway 1806), ND, Native land of the Dakȟóta and Lakȟótiyapi people, 2016

Many of Tapahe’s photos show three or four Indigenous women in regalia wearing skirts or dresses with jingles. They pose in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.; in front of a temporary “Indianland” sign at Desert X, outside Palm Springs, California; in tall grasses at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming; in Monument Valley, Arizona; and at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

The colors the jingle dancers wear, especially the red masks, speak to the many social and political issues faced by the Indigenous people of Turtle Island, or North America, such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives crisis.

One of the photographs is titled Granite and Grace and portrays the four jingle dancers in black and white standing in tall grass in front of El Capitán in Yosemite National Park, with a forest between the women and the rock. This is the home, the photograph notes, of the Nyyhmy (Western Mono/Monache) people.

Monroe Gallery co-owner Sid Monroe says what strikes him about the photo is that it speaks to the erroneously white-centered documented history of the American West.

“You look at this photo and you think of the canon of American photography,” Monroe says. “Ansel Adams, especially, who is said to have ‘opened up the West’ to the world. But his photos and how they were received didn’t take into account the Native people who were already there, whose land this is.”

Tapahe’s exhibition is among dozens of shows across The City Different’s galleries and museums that have recently opened or are scheduled to open this fall.

Inauguration of Mark Peterson's White Noise photographic exhibition on American white supremacism

 Via Babel Festival

September 17, 2026

Inauguration of Mark Peterson's White Noise photographic exhibition on American white supremacism, in the presence of writer Claudia Rankine.

White Noise is a series of photos initially conceived as a tool to investigate the divisive climate that had settled in the country in the aftermath of Donald Trump's election and captured the crescendo of white nationalism and autocracy that developed during his presidency. Peterson explored the White House's rhetoric on immigration and Islam and how it echoes nationalism, Western chauvinism, neo-Nazism and the ideas of all those who call for the creation of an ethnic state in America. Rankine founded the Racial Imagery Institute, where the exhibition was exhibited along with others on the dramatic effects of associating "whiteness" with the idea of universality and normality, even humanity.

In collaboration with Spazio 5b
Via Carlo Salvioni 5b, 6500 Bellinzona
Opening hours:

18 September 10:00-17:00
19-20 September 10:00-19:00
until 31 October by appointment:
+41 795235390 / info@spazio5b.ch

LIFE’s Everson Museum exhibit spotlights power of print media

Via The Daily Orange

September 16, 2026

For decades, Life Magazine’s mission was to give Americans a way to see the world through photographs, from notable political affairs and wartime scenes to family life and everyday moments.

Now, “LIFE: Six Women Photographers” brings that history to the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, displaying photographs and issue snippets of Life Magazine, from six women who documented American life throughout the 20th century.

“It’s an interesting reminder that images have always been really powerful,” said Steffi Chappell, Everson’s Director of Curatorial Affairs and a Syracuse University alum. “Back when Life was first introduced, because of the way that it used images was so new, it blew everybody’s mind.”

The exhibition, organized by the New York Historical, is on display at the Everson until Sept. 27. It features the work of Life’s earliest female photographers: Margaret Bourke-White, Hansel Mieth, Marie Hansen, Nina Leen, Lisa Larsen and Martha Holmes, placing their photographs alongside the original Life issues where their work appeared. The black and white photos document both major historical events and ordinary American life from 1936-56. From photos of garment workers socializing and crowds surrounding a Yugoslavian president’s visit to the Soviet Union, the exhibit’s images capture a range of historical moments from the Great Depression to the Cold War.

Before the exhibit arrived at the Everson, Chappell knew Life’s role in shaping American society, but after research, she knew the magazine’s photographs would make a great addition to the museum.

For Chappell, the exhibition also provides an opportunity to consider what’s changed since Life’s popularity — and what hasn’t. It’s a reminder of the power of images and what print media “used to be,” making it suitable for the Everson, Chappell said.

When Life was established in 1936, its heavy reliance on photography distinguished it from other publications, Chappell said. The exhibition includes a prospectus that described the magazine’s mission as seeing and showing the world through images.

“It was all about the photos,” Chappell said. “And that was the first time that the American public has seen a publication like that. And so it was really, really impactful.”

Nina Leen’s 1947 photo essay, “American Woman’s Dilemma,” turned to the competing expectations placed on women in postwar and depression America. The photo essay presented three options for women with children: motherhood on top of a full-time career, full-time housework or part-time work alongside housekeeping.

Nearly 80 years later, Chappell said the questions raised by Leen’s photographs remain surprisingly familiar.

“It’s 2026 and we’re still having this discussion about working parents and should someone be staying home with the kids and is it OK for kids to go to daycare?” Chappell said. “Even though that’s from the 1940s, it still is shockingly current.”

Desi Drake of Liverpool was drawn to the Everson’s exhibit particularly because of Bourke-White’s work. Of all of the images on display, Drake’s favorite was Bourke-White’s shot of the Fort Peck Dam in Montana that appeared on the cover of Life’s inaugural issue in 1936.

Drake said she found it “amazing” that the photographs were taken by female photographers in the 1930s and noted the significance of a woman’s work being featured so prominently at the beginning of the magazine’s history.

Other photographers documented women entering traditionally male-dominated spaces. Hansen’s 1942 “The WAACs,” a series of photographs that showed the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps preparing for military support roles while also emphasizing expectations of femininity.

Similarly, Mieth’s series “Garment Workers at Play” documented women at work while capturing their relationships and social lives outside the factory, giving the series a playful and intimate quality.

“Every artist, photographer, painter, sculptor, always brings their own unique perspective, which is influenced by their background, their life experiences, where they grew up, who their family members were,” Chappell said.

The exhibition also draws attention to another person behind every published image: the editor.

While photographers controlled their subjects and which images they submitted, Life’s editors ultimately decided which photographs appeared in the magazine. Several photos in the exhibition didn’t actually end up in an issue of Life.

For Chappell, understanding the editorial process changes how visitors interpret the exhibition.

“If you go into the show and you don’t read any of the text and you just are looking at the images, you might not pick up on that idea that the photographers took the photos, but the editors were the ones that actually got to choose which photos were printed and which photos the public saw,” Chappell said.

The original Life issues displayed in the exhibition make that editorial process visible. Visitors can see the photographs in the context in which millions of Americans encountered them when the issues were first published.

For some visitors, the exhibition brought back memories of Life as a physical part of American society.

Loey Rotchforde, who lives in Syracuse, was reminded of the Life issues she used to see in thrift stores after attending the exhibit. She described Life as a “big cultural setter” and said the exhibit was a testament to “the power of print publications.”

Since Life’s establishment in 1936, society’s relationship with photographs has changed drastically, with images now dominating digital platforms and advertising, Chappell said.

The difference, Chappell said, is that photography was once a much newer and more concentrated form of storytelling. For Life’s first issue, founder and former Life editor-in-chief Henry Luce made the decision to put Bourke-White’s photograph on the cover. Bourke-White became not only the first female photographer at Life, but one of the first-ever photographers to capture numerous significant events.

“I don’t think he went into it thinking, ‘I’m going to put a woman photographer on the cover of Life Magazine. I’m just going to put the best photograph on the cover of Life Magazine,’” Chappell said.

Related: Margaret Bourke-White exhibit February 6 - April 26, 2026

The Monuments: Who Should Shape Public Space New exhibit features photographs by Sanjay Suchak

 

Now open on the third floor of Shannon Library at The University of Virginia:

Who decides what belongs in public space, and what do those choices say about our democracy?

"The Monuments: Who Should Shape Public Space?," a new exhibit from the Karsh Institute of Democracy and the University of Virginia Library, explores these questions through photographer and former Karsh Institute Practitioner Fellow Sanjay Suchak's images documenting the removal and current status of Confederate monuments across Virginia.

UVA Shannon Library

University of Virginia

Charlottesville, VA

 

Robert E. Lee Monument Overhead, Richmond, Virginia, July 2, 2020

Foundry workers prepare to melt down the face of the Robert E. Lee statue for repurporsing, October, 2023

Mark Peterson Photographed "Trumpapalooza" for Vanity Fair

 Via Vanity Fair

September 11, 2026

Trumpapalooza: The Best Photos from the Republican Midterm Convention | Vanity Fair  click for full article

31 Extraordinary Photos From Trumpapalooza

President Trump demanded that Republicans hold a midterm convention in his honor, and that’s exactly what they delivered. Mark Peterson and Aidan McLaughlin traveled to Dallas, Texas, to capture the scenes.

Photographer Mark Peterson

9/11 In remembrance

 Via Pasatiempo

The Santa Fe New Mexican

September 11, 2026

 Tony Vaccaro, Minoru Yamasaki, World Trade Center Architect, 1969

Friday, September 11, marks the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, changing the United States forever and shuffling the world’s geopolitical makeup.

Before you get into the political fallout of the attack, I suggest you sit for a moment with the people who were in Lower Manhattan that morning and during the days that followed. They are people who lost their lives, witnessed the horror and survived, documented the tragedy, saved lives, attempted to save lives, and, years later, suffered from illnesses caused by hazardous dust.

One way to sit with these humans is to visit a virtual project on the Monroe Gallery of Photography website titled “9/11 In Remembrance.”

Gallery co-owners Sid and Michelle Monroe curated a Pop Up and online exhibition for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 in 2021, near the end of the height of the pandemic, by choosing 25 photographs that speak to the history of the World Trade Center: the before, the pride of the Twin Towers, the day of the attack, and the days that followed.

The photographers whose work is featured in “9/11 in Remembrance” are Tony Vaccaro, Eddie Adams, Carolyn Schaefer, Neil Leifer, Eric Draper, Eric O’Connell, Stephen Wilkes, Shepard Sherbell, Joe Blake, Joe McNally, Thomas E. Franklin, Nina Berman, and David Butow. — Ania Hull


See It: “9/11 In Remembrance,” Virtual Project, 2021, at monroegallery.com/gallery/virtual-projects.

9/11 25 Years Later: Photojournalist Eric O’Connell recalls being thrust into horror and history after living just a week in NYC

 Via AM New York

September 10, 2026

Eric O’Connell had been living in his apartment on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan, next to historic Fraunces Tavern, for less than a week when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks struck the city. 

As a 33-year-old photojournalist and commercial photographer at that time, he had been working in various parts of the country, teaching and photographing for magazines and advertising stock. Because New York City is the American center of photojournalism, it was only natural for O’Connell to make a new home here. 

Like many others, O’Connell recalls hearing about the first attack on the World Trade Center that day while watching television.

“When the first plane hit the World Trade Center, I saw it on the news – Matt Lauer and Katic Couric were preempted and they showed a picture of the building on fire (the north tower) – may be a Cessna hit it and I said, ‘ok, this is not an accident and my training kicked in,’” O’Connell said from his current home in San Antonio in an interview with this reporter, who had spoken to him for the first time in 25 years. “I grabbed my cameras and ran out the door.”

That’s when he said the metal doors on the building shook; he didn’t realize it at that moment, but that was when the second plane had hit the south tower. “It felt like an earthquake,” he recalled.

Despite having moved to NYC in July, O’Connell was not too familiar with the city. He had just spent July teaching in Italy and all of August in New Mexico teaching art. Nevertheless, he made his way to the World Trade Center, running down Broadway to Liberty Street, passing the black tombstone-like Deutsche Bank building.

Then O’Connell came upon the grotesque scene of horror: A piece of plane fuselage on a parking lot across from the south tower. A chunk of steel from the plane pierced the hood of a car. Gruesome body parts were scattered.

Then came the unthinkable: Jumpers.

“They (firefighters) were coming across the parking lot, and then I heard it. I saw something out of corner of eye; it finally registered that a body was falling,” O’Connell recalled. “Then I saw these guys running. Firefighters were dragging him, a firefighter hit by debris. I didn’t know at the time that a body had hit him.”

O’Connell had witnessed what this reporter had seen while covering that fateful morning: Firefighter Danny Suhr struck by a jumper. He ran around the corner and snapped a picture of him being removed in front of 90 West St. He then shot a few frames of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

“I was standing on the corner (of Liberty Street) where there was scaffolding and I thought, ‘Okay, this is barely safe – things were falling out of the sky,’” he recalled. “I took a picture of the church from the corner, and my instinct was that there was extreme danger. There were two cops there, one a female, and we didn’t know where to go.”

O’Connell had witnessed what this reporter had seen while covering that fateful morning: Firefighter Danny Suhr struck by a jumper. He ran around the corner and snapped a picture of him being removed in front of 90 West St. He then shot a few frames of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

“I was standing on the corner (of Liberty Street) where there was scaffolding and I thought, ‘Okay, this is barely safe – things were falling out of the sky,’” he recalled. “I took a picture of the church from the corner, and my instinct was that there was extreme danger. There were two cops there, one a female, and we didn’t know where to go.”

Eric O'Connell: Greek Orthodox Church and Towers, September 11, 2001

“Then we heard the rumble; we knew the building was falling and someone yelled, ‘Run!’” O’Connell recalled. “The female cop screamed, ‘In here!’ I chose to dive in, turned left and curled up in a ball.”

O’Connell had grown up in the southwest U.S., where his community sometimes suffered tornadoes. As the south tower fell, he remembered the advice his mother gave him when a twister approached: Get into the corner. 

“I headed to the wall, and the impact threw me in the air,” he recalled. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘Please let it be quick.'”

As soon as the rumble of the collapse stopped, “only 10 seconds, I was sitting on my ankles with knees bent thinking maybe the building is on fire and I might die from the smoke,” he said. “I felt like I had three inches of talcum powder on my face. Then I heard a woman’s voice say, “We can get out here.’ I also heard another voice say, ‘Over here.’”

He could not tell where the doorway was at first, the entrance to Liberty Street completely blocked by debris. Instinctively, he unscrewed the dust-filled filter from his camera and took a few photos, capturing a female police officer and in the background with this reporter.”

Eric O'Connell: The crowd, September 11, 2001

Once outside of the building, the street was dark and filled with dust. He made an important life choice.

“My early influences were all those journalism guys, like James Nachway and Anthony Suau (both famed war photographers), and I thought, ‘I’m not a Nachway or a Suau – I’m not a war photog,’” he said. “So I had a choice to turn right or left, and I turned left. I didn’t want to be one of those people.”

O’Connell then photographed a man in a dust-coated business suit. He took a picture of O’Connell with an instant camera next to an MTA bus. Then he made a joke that “disgusted” O’Connell. “Who do we sue?” the man had quipped.

O’Connell kept walking south and ran into an abandoned hot dog cart.

“I grabbed a water and as soon as I did, a different female cop put her hand on my shoulder, pulled me towards her and said, ‘you need to wash your face,’ so she dragged me to a water fountain, and she pressed the button for me. She then disappeared and I kept walking.”

He said a few guys had a transistor radio on top of car, listening to the news. He said he thought about the movie “Red Dawn,” and thought about the country being under attack as happened in the film.

By the time he made it to Battery Park, he turned back when he heard another rumble, and “I saw an enormous cloud of dust and smoke,” the collapse of the north tower.

“I started to understand what may have happened, but I just didn’t know what to do so I went home, (to his apartment on Pearl Street) and I saw the pictures on television. I took my clothes off. I knew my life had changed forever,” he said.

After cleaning up, he went back out and walked a woman across the Brooklyn Bridge; “she was terrified to walk across,” O’Connell recalled. He went to a friend’s house in Brooklyn to get food and some sleep.

“I tried to sleep but I kept waking up because I was having a nightmare of falling – I’d He brought his processed film to Time Magazine the next day, but because he had shot it on black-and-white film, they weren’t interested. He later sold the images to CNN and “60 Minutes” and gave and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church — which had been destroyed in the Twin Towers’ collapse — a photo to help them raise money to rebuild.

Eric O’Connell showing photos in an exhibit in 2021 at Monroe Gallery of Photography for the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Photo shows last picture of the Greek Orthodox Church crushed in the collapse.

(Photo Courtesy of Eric O’Connell)

O’Connell said he sometimes regrets not having done more on that “historic moment.” But he was also suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder that so many also experienced. He never returned to the site: “I couldn’t even go down there.” He said he didn’t leave Manhattan for a year.

“I was scared to leave – didn’t think I could come back – I was in a red zone, and so when I finally did leave, I’d make sure to take my insurance card, or utility bill, to show where I lived. I was just angry about stuff – I had just moved to New York City,” he said. “I chose to turn my back on it; I didn’t have that connection to all those people – I only had a few friends.” 

Now living in San Antonio, he continues to work as a photographer, but also works part-time for Parks and Recreation and rides his bike on the greenways, “like the West Side Highway along the river.”

One of the guys he rides with is a retired NYPD officer, “the only person he knows who speaks about 9/11.”

Exhibit: 9/11 In Remembrance

City of Santa Fe 25th Remembrance Ceremony for September 11

 Via The City of Santa Fe

25th Remembrance Ceremony for September 11

Friday, September 11, 2026 | 10 a.m.

City Hall | 200 Lincoln Avenue

Twenty-five years ago, 343 of the firefighters who answered the call at the World Trade Center never made it home. On Friday, September 11, we remember them not only for the sacrifice they made, but for the courage and commitment to others they showed that day.

The community is invited to join the City of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Fire Department for the annual September 11 Remembrance Ceremony at City Hall.

The morning will include a stair climb, a fire engine procession from Station 1 to City Hall, music from the Santa Fe Firefighters Pipes & Drums, and a tribute from the Honor Guard. Together, we will remember the lives lost, honor the first responders who answered the call, and stand in unity as a community.

Schedule

6:46 a.m. – Firefighters stand guard at the empty table in front of City Hall

8 a.m. – Stair steppers arrive at City Hall

8:46 a.m. – Stair steppers begin climbing

9:25 a.m. – Procession from Station 1 to City Hall

10 a.m. – Remembrance ceremony begins

Visit the Monroe Gallery Pop Up exhibit 9/11 In Remembrance, on view through September 13, 2026

When The Faces of Ground Zero Giant Polaroids Came To Santa Fe

 

Photograph by David E. Starke/9/11 Museum

As the 25th anniversary of 9/11 nears, Joe McNally will be sharing the story behind his powerful portraits of 272 lives changed by 9/11. The Faces of Ground Zero, which are life-sized, giant Polaroids, was created by photographer Joe McNally in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. Working out of a special studio housing the camera, a highly specialized instrument, he photographed 272 people whose lives intersected in profound fashion with 9/11.

Firefighters, police officers, medical personnel, iron workers, volunteers, families—all came to the camera to have their story told in pictures and their own words. The Giant Polaroids, framed, stand roughly 9 feet tall and 4 feet wide. They toured the US and internationally, became a book, and assisted in raising approximately $2 million for the 9/11 relief efforts.

The project is now on view, installed permanently in the 9/11 Memorial Museum

On September 10 at 5pm EDT Joe McNally will be at Adorama in a special appearance to discuss the creation of this project, and the emotional story of how these pictures were made. Reserve a spot here, watch on YouTube here.

In 2014, Monroe Gallery was honored to present a selection of The Faces of Ground Zero Giant Polaroids in a retrospective exhibition of Joe McNally's career.

Pop Up exhibition: 9/11 In Remembrance

Ania Hull: Beyond the beauty of Indian Market, deeper stories emerged

 

Via The Santa Fe New Mexican Pasatiempo

August 21, 2026

The 104th Indian Market broke me, but in a good way — in a way that only too much time in the sun and heat surrounded by so much beauty and so much storytelling you don’t know where to look and what story to hear next can.

There was also plenty of hurt under the surface. Plenty of stories that brought me back to reality and showed me so much beyond the gorgeous art displayed by almost 1,000 artists at the annual market...

After Indian Market was over, I had the opportunity to interview Sid Monroe, co-owner of the Monroe Gallery of Photography, and to visit the new exhibition of photographs by Eugene Tapahe (Diné), one of the artists who’s been a presence at Indian Market for some years now. The photographs show, among other things, scenes from Standing Rock and Minneapolis.

Sid and I discussed the lessons we — non-Indigenous, white people — should all learn from how Indigenous people come together to support each other, once again, as Indian Country. While this may be something new to us, to have to stand up to the government and to realize that we are being lied to, it’s not new for Indigenous people, nor to Black people, nor to other ethnic groups that have suffered so much we can’t even imagine what that means.

I’ll leave you with this, though: stand up for each other, especially for people who don’t have your privilege. I’ve written about it and will continue writing about it. -Ania Hull

  --full article

9/11 In Remembrance 25 Years Later

 

Tony Vaccaro: Twin Towers in sunset, New York,1979

Monroe Gallery of Photography announces a special Pop Up exhibition of photographs commemorating the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center that became known as 9/11. The Pop Up is at Monroe Gallery, 112 Don Gaspar Avenue September 9-13, 2026.

Every year since 2001 solemn ceremonies are held to remember the many that lost their lives, the families whose lives were changed forever, and the selfless first responders who performed heroically on that day, and for days after, in the search for survivors.

Shepard Sherbell: Firemen on scene of the terrorist attack on World Trade Center, September 11, 2001

The twin towers design process started in 1965 and construction began in 1972. The twin towers were the tallest buildings in the world for a very short time. Photographs in the exhibit document the construction of the World Trade Center, its prominence in the skyline of Manhattan, and the devastation of September 11, 2001

Sidney and Michelle Monroe relocated their family and Gallery from New York City to Santa Fe shortly after 9/11. This exhibit is a remembrance of the World Trade Center, fellow New Yorkers, and the countless lives affected on that day.

Joe McNally - Faces of Ground Zero: 25 Years Later

 

Via Adorama

Joe McNally shares the story behind his powerful portraits of 272 lives changed by 9/11

Adorama, New York, NY

Thursday, September 10  •  5 PM - 6 PM

Reserve a spot

Please join us for a very special night in honor of the 25th Anniversary of 9/11.

The Faces of Ground Zero, which are life-sized, giant Polaroids, was created by photographer Joe McNally in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. Working out of a special studio housing the camera, a highly specialized instrument, he photographed 272 people whose lives intersected in profound fashion with 9/11.

Firefighters, police officers, medical personnel, iron workers, volunteers, families—all came to the camera to have their story told in pictures and their own words. The Giant Polaroids, framed, stand roughly 9 feet tall and 4 feet wide. They toured the US and internationally, became a book, and assisted in raising approximately $2 million for the 9/11 relief efforts.

The project is now on view, installed permanently in the 9/11 Memorial Museum, but for one night only, join us in-store to see a limited amount of the giant Polaroids up close!

On the 25th Anniversay Joe McNally will be at Adorama in a special appearance to discuss the creation of this project, and the emotional story of how these pictures were made.

Related exhibition: 9/11 - In Remembrance

Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning photographer whose prolific career includes assignments in nearly 70 countries. McNally is often described as: Authentic, articulate, an exceptional technical photographer whose varied skill set means he is called upon often for the “unusual” or “challenging” job. But no job is too big or too small for McNally because he loves photographing anything or anyone interesting in front of his lens.

He is also known world-wide for his unmatched visual creativeness and extraordinary imagination. He is calm under pressure and excels in the field whether it is a portrait of a celebrity or corporate CEO to an unwieldy fashion shoot with a crew of 60.

Joe McNally’s credit list includes 5 covers of the National Geographic, (amongst an overall 15 coverages for the magazine), 7 Covers of Life Magazine and 4 successful Olympic coverages as he looks ahead to number 5 with Paris 2024 approaching. McNally has also climbed the Empire State Building 4x and the Burj Khalifa tower 2x. A proud Nikon Ambassador, he is the rare photographer to make the bridge between photojournalism and commercial photography and has the distinct ability to come away with a photograph no matter the twist or turns he might encounter on assignment.

Ron Haviv Covers The Viral Confrontation of Jake Lang and "Spiderman"

 

Ron Haviv

J6 activist Jake Lang at a “rally” where he was met by opposing protesters, Minneapolis City Hall, August, 2026

On August 22, 2026, Jake Lang hosted a "rally" outside Minneapolis City Hall to support a woman convicted of using racial slurs against a child. He was met by opposing protesters. Lang was later arrested for causing a riot as was Spider-Man. 

The Woman Guiding Tourists Through New York City’s Worst Day

 Via the New York Times

August 24, 2026

"The tour begins outside a Burger King on Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan, and the guide explains why. People forget that this was commandeered by the police on Sept. 11, 2001, as a staging area amid the chaos, “NYPD Temp HQ” spray-painted over the front door.

What follows is a very specific narrative of the events of that day as told by a very specific guide, Christina Stanton, who lived it firsthand. She continues to watch it unfold, 25 years on.....

Why keep reliving that?

Because.

Because the boat rescue is praised as the largest maritime evacuation in the country’s history — it has been called the “American Dunkirk” — and there is a documentary about it narrated by Tom Hanks, and yet few on her tours seem to have heard of it.

Because not everyone realizes that the number of illnesses and deaths linked to the attacks continues to grow, far surpassing the number of people who died that day.

Because, surrounded by plaques and statues and the reflecting pools and the broken hull of that huge metal Sphere, she, too, is a memorial."

Click to read full article.

Related exhibition: 9/11 - In Remembrance

PROJECTIONS 9/11 - 25 YEARS COMMEMORATION

 Via Projections

SAVE THE DATE: PROJECTIONS

9/11 - 25 YEARS COMMEMORATION

BEFORE HISTORY WAS WRITTEN, IT WAS PHOTOGRAPHED


September 6–11, 2026
Live Worldwide via Zoom • 7:00 p.m. EST

Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, PROJECTIONS brings together 35+ photographers, editors, and visual journalists whose images documented the attacks and shaped how the world understood them.

Across six nights, photographers who covered the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, Shanksville, and the White House will share firsthand accounts of that extraordinary day and its aftermath.

Now the witnesses return to tell the stories behind the images that became history.

Among the confirmed presenters:

• Joel Meyerowitz • Peter Turnley • David Hume Kennerly • Steve McCurry • David Friend • MaryAnne Golon • Ruth Fremson • Jennifer S. Altman • Thomas Dallal • David Handschuh • Jim Lowney • Ron Haviv • Mark Edward Harris • Stan Honda • Mario Tama • Jose Jimenez-Tirado • Pete Souza • Rabbi Irwin Kula • Jeff Swensen • Robert Clark • Matthew McDermott • Gary Suson • Todd Maisel • Gulnara Samoilva • Lori Grinker • Thomas Franklin • Jason Florio • Lyle Owerko • Eric Draper • Spencer Platt • Shannon Stapleton • Phil Penman • Lauren Walsh • Susan Watts • Todd Maisel

The programs will be recorded and permanently archived by PROJECTIONS as an educational resource for future generations.

SAVE YOUR PLACE

Join us…

September 6–11, 2026

7:00 p.m. EST each evening

Live Worldwide via Zoom

Related Exhibit: 9/11 - In Remembrance

Stanley Forman and his Pulitzer Winning Photographs

 1976, Part 14: Stanley Forman … - The Georgia Politics Podcast - Apple Podcasts

Via Georgia Politics Podcast

August 14, 2026

Welcome to The Georgia Politics Podcast! In this episode, we take a fascinating detour into the world of photojournalism with legendary photographer Stanley Forman.

Forman sits down to discuss his remarkable career, the photographs that shaped his legacy and the stories behind some of his most iconic images. From his early days as a young photographer to the moments that earned him national recognition and Pulitzer Prizes, Forman offers a firsthand look at the people, places and events he captured through his lens.

It's a conversation about photography, journalism and history — and a reminder of how a single photograph can capture a moment and define an era.

New Tapahe Exhibit Features Stunning Standing Rock Composite Photograph

 

NEVER FORGET, STANDING FOR UNITY

BY EUGENE TAPAHE

70”x47” archival pigment print

44 Black and White Photograph Collage

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Standing Rock Movement to protect the water and land in North Dakota, this collection of 44 photos was taken over four months in 2016 at the Standing Rock camps. It documents the love and unity of thousands of people from numerous ethnicities, tribes, and cultures who made a spiritual journey to stand together to protect the water and the land.

During this time, Tapahe published articles and posted photos of his experiences at camp. He was asked why he went to the Oceti Sakowin camp. “I came because the land called me. I was here in a dream long before it happened. As a Diné (Navajo), it was my responsibility to be here, to help our people, our ancestors, our water, and our land. It wasn’t just a thought; it was what is in my heart. The connection to the land and nature can't be explained. It's felt deep inside. It's sacred to all who feel it."

10 years ago, Tapahe spent months completing this project to raise awareness of this once-in-a-lifetime historical event.  Tapahe said, “The spirit in the camp was peaceful. It felt as if our ancestors were standing with us in unity around the sacred fire–singing and dancing. I sang and prayed for peace and resolve during my nights there. This spiritual awakening will always be with me as I continue my creative journey to photograph and document the beauty of Mother Earth and our people. I will never forget this courageous stand for unity."

Eugene Tapahe: ART HEALS The Jingle Dress Project and Standing Rock Movement

August 13 - November 1, 2026

An extraordinary picture collection spanning 100 works will be on view at museums across the United States.

Via PetaPixel

August 8, 2026

An extraordinary picture collection spanning 100 works by photographers including Diane Arbus, Dorothea Lange, Richard Avedon, Nan Goldin, and Edward Steichen will be on view at museums across the United States.

The American Federation of Arts (AFA) announces the launch of the new traveling exhibition Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder, featuring photographs by more than 50 photographers and artists.

Monroe Gallery of Photograph contributed photographs to the collection, including the featured image of Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama, 1965 by Steve Schapiro

Steve Schapiro (American, 1934– 2022) Martin Luther King Jr., Selma, Alabama, 1965 Gelatin silver print, 18 7/8 x 12 3/4 in. Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Promised Gift from the Judy Glickman Lauder Collection, 10.2010.8 © Steve Schapiro. Courtesy Monroe Gallery, Sante Fe, NM

“Photography connects us to history while reminding us that we are a part of its ongoing story. It has the power to tell authentic, compassionate stories about what it means to be human." --Judy  Glickman Lauder.

Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder will travel to the Southampton Arts Center (July 25–September 27), Sarasota Art Museum (October 18, 2026–April 4, 2027), the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston (May 28–August 29, 2027), and the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami (September 30, 2027–February 26, 2028).

Full article here.

Not that long ago, the press could root out corruption, topple presidents, and end wars. Now, even the biggest scoops have little impact.

 Via Craig Unger

Not that long ago, the press could root out corruption, topple presidents, and end wars. Now, even the biggest scoops have little impact. Here's how and why the media lost its mojo.

Our so-called free press can no longer do what it used to do. That’s because it presumes an audience that shares the same factual reality most of us see. And that audience, a national citizenry that shares the same set of facts, no longer exists.

Full article here

America The Beautiful Review in Musée Magazine: "the exhibition examines representations of the country while complicating what it means to be American"

 Via Musée Magazine

Written by Georgina Laube

August 6, 2026

The United States is one of the most visually and culturally represented countries in the world, yet despite its constant representation, a lingering question remains: is the image of the country shaped more by what it is or by what it is imagined to be?

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, which opened over Memorial Day weekend at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and runs through August 9, directly engages with this question. The timing of the exhibition is particularly significant. Memorial Day is both the unofficial beginning of summer and a national holiday dedicated to commemorating those who died in service to the United States. Against this backdrop, the exhibition examines representations of the country while complicating what it means to be American.

Ryan Vizzions: Protesters face off with police and the National Guard on February 1, 2017, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. | Courtesy of artist and gallery ©.

Bringing together more than 45 photographs, the group exhibition explores the complexity of the United States, its identity, its shared culture, and what it means to be an American on an individual and collective scale as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary during one of the most politically and socially divisive periods in its history.

Ryan Vizzions: January 7th, 2026 - After the murder of Renee Good by a masked federal agent, a vigil was held in her honor. Upward of 10,000 Minnesotans showed up to pay their respects at the location she was killed | Courtesy of artist and gallery ©.

The works on view range from photographs of the Statue of Liberty and the vast American plains to images of protestors exercising their First Amendment rights, moments of conflict born from struggles for freedom and equality, and scenes of everyday life in both rural and urban communities throughout the years. Together, these photographs create an honest portrait of America, capturing both its beauty and its complexities while highlighting its constant evolution.

Margaret Bourke-White/ ©Life Picture Collection

Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, 1952 | Courtesy of artist and gallery 

Among the exhibition's recurring symbols is the American flag. Historically, the flag has functioned as a symbol of the nation and its people, but its meanings have never been singular. For some, it represents hope, opportunity, and the promise of a better life. For others, it can signify dominance or fear. It has also long served as a symbol of collective unity, communicating the belief that the nation is stronger together than divided.

David Butow: A protester at Ferguson police headquarters two nights after the Grand Jury decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, November 24, 2014 | Courtesy of artist and gallery ©.

From photographs of the flag being raised at Ground Zero following September 11 to images in which it appears during memorial services for fallen service members, the exhibition presents the flag across a variety of contexts. In doing so, AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL encourages viewers to critically examine what the symbol communicates today and how its meaning continues to shift. The exhibition makes clear that the flag can simultaneously function as a symbol of freedom and a symbol of oppression, prompting viewers to consider what happens when a national symbol becomes contested and no longer universally embraced.

Nina Berman F**k the KKK, New Jersey, 1990 | Courtesy of the artist and gallery ©.

Musée Magazine is a dynamic, print and digital biennial, and interactive website dedicated to featuring works by emerging and established artists. Sometimes quirky, sometimes sensual, always unpredictable, Musée moves on the cutting edge as an unparalleled photo-based platform. Today, Musée finds itself at the vanguard of photography and film culture. We strive to empower promising artists as they navigate and launch future careers throughout the global photographic community, while commingling with industry influencers to provide relevant content for academics, students, and photography aficionados alike. Like a photographic library, Musée has a broad appeal, encompassing all genres from the photo-world’s beloved masters to the new, exciting, and unexpected. 

The detention of photojournalist Trish Brownlee, formerly of Capital Encore Academy in Fayetteville, raises questions about press freedom, transparency and accountability questions for ICE.

 Via The Fayetteville Observer

August 6, 2026

The detention of photojournalist Trish Brownlee, formerly of Capital Encore Academy in Fayetteville, raises questions about press freedom, transparency and accountability questions for ICE.

Trish Brownlee is a U.S. citizen.  

She is an Army veteran. 

She is an artist and served as an arts teacher at Capitol Encore Academy, the charter school in downtown Fayetteville. 

"She was the very first visual arts teacher," said Capitol Encore administrator Brian Adam Kline, who was an arts teacher when Brownlee was here, circa 2014. "And she pretty much founded how we do arts at Capitol." 

Brownlee is also a photojournalist who has shot pictures for The Fayetteville Observer.

It was in her role as an independent photojournalist, reporting on an immigration enforcement action in New Jersey, that Brownlee ran afoul of officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The men with ICE — the lead agency in the Trump Administration's broad and indiscriminate mass deportation and detention efforts — did not care that she was doing her job. They found a reason to arrest her and detain her. She remained in detention 47 days before she was released from the Warren County Correctional Center in Belvedere, New Jersey, on July 27, according to U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, which documents press freedom violations in the U.S. --continue to full article