Depths of winter: 'Frozen in Time' brings images of joy, despair to Monroe Gallery

 Via The Albuquerque Journal

By Kathaleen Roberts

November 24, 2024

Winter brings both beauty and brutality.

Open at Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography, “Frozen in Time” brings images of both joy and despair by some of the most renowned American photojournalists. The photographs cover the 2016 protests during the Standing Rock pipeline construction, a skating waiter at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in the early 1900s, and images of the grim winter conditions during World War II.

Several of the photojournalists worked for Life magazine.

"It always makes for a beautiful, serene, contemplative experience,” said Michelle Monroe, gallery co-owner, of the frosty season. “We know it’s cold, we know it’s quiet, we know there is a veil of light.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection: Ice Skating Waiter, St. Moritz, 1932

Alfred Eisenstaedt’s “Ice Skating Waiter” encapsulates the grace of skating while balancing a tray of glasses and liquor.

“He had a very rudimentary camera with glass plates,” Monroe said. “He said the whole thing was a technical challenge.”

The photographer focused on the chair until the waiter swanned by.

Tony Vaccaro: Battle of Hurtgen Forest, Germany, 1944

Tony Vaccaro’s photograph of soldiers partially buried in snow during the 88-day Battle of Hürtgen Forest captures the longest fight on German ground of World War II. An estimated 24,000 were killed, wounded or captured.

“There was no one more uncomfortable than the other,” Monroe said. “You couldn’t even find any comfort being together. (Vaccaro) said there was a lot of dark humor.”

In 2023, Navajo photographer Eugene Tapahe took “Ancestral Strength” in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.

Eugene Tapahe

Ancestral Strength, Teton National Park, WY, Cayuse, Umatilla, Newe Sogobia and Tséstho’e, 2023

Tapahe was studying at Utah’s Brigham Young University when the pandemic hit. He decided to take four Native jingle dancers (two of whom were his daughters) across the country.

“The jingle dress has always been used for healing,” Monroe said. “Since the schools were closed, perhaps he could heal the country. They went all over performing. It had a tremendous effect on people.”

Those stops included Mount Rushmore, Yosemite and New York’s Central Park.

Ryan Vizzions photographed the protests over the Standing Rock pipeline in 2017, including a portrait of a medicine man.

Ryan Vizzions: Standing Rock, Winter, 2016

“He was a spiritual counselor and guide for everything there to keep people in focus,” Monroe said.

“(For) a lot of the older photographers, in order to be put on the front page, it was to get out there and get a shot of this latest snowstorm,” Monroe said. “She was part of the Photo League (cooperative.) They were shut down by the Red Scare movement for being subversive.”

Ida Wyman: Wrought Iron Design in Snow, New York City, 1945

The photographs also include images of the 1939 Russo-Finnish War, harsh winter conditions in the northern Soviet Union taken during its collapse in the 1990s and several ice skating scenes, including Truman Capote at New York’s famed Rockefeller Plaza in 1959, as well as tranquil snow scenes of the American West.

Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection: The newly created 'Japanese Police Force' moves out of camp for winter training, Hokkaido, Japan, 1951

Monroe Gallery specializes in photojournalism. It was the recipient of the 2010 Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Excellence in Photojournalism.

'FROZEN IN TIME'

WHEN: Opening Reception on Friday, Nov. 29, 4-6 pm; exhibition continues through Jan. 19, 2025

WHERE: Monroe Gallery, 112 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe

MORE INFO: monroegallery.com, 505-992-0800

Publisher of raided Kansas newspaper delivers advice to journalists: ‘Make democracy great again’

 Via Kansas Reflector

November 18, 2024

TOPEKA — The editor of the Kansas newspaper raided by police last year has a message for journalists struggling with their sense of purpose.

Go on the offensive.

Eric Meyer, editor and publisher of the Marion County Record, delivered remarks Friday as he was inducted alongside his mother, Joan, into the Kansas Press Association Newspaper Hall of Fame.

“I think this is a time when we have to establish for the people of this country the fact that we are important, that we have things that we can tell them that they will want to know, that they will want to change their positions about,” Meyer said.

He added, in a nod to the results of the presidential election: “Let’s not make America great again. Let’s make democracy great again.”

Police raided the Marion County Record newsroom and the home where Meyer lived with his mother in August 2023 under the false pretense that journalists had committed a crime by looking up a public record. Joan Meyer, the 98-year-old co-owner whose profane clash with police officers was captured on camera, died a day after the raid from stress-induced cardiac arrest. The raid spawned five civil lawsuits and a criminal charge against the police chief who led the attack on a free press.

Meyer said he is “an odd duck” because he retired to run a newspaper, rather than retire from it. He returned to Kansas during the COVID-19 pandemic to take over the publication his parents had operated for decades. After teaching journalism for 20 years at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Meyer wanted to practice what he had been preaching — that journalism is still vital.

“We’re not talking about the future of journalists. We’re talking about the future of democracy,” Meyer said. “Because without journalism, there is no democracy. We can’t have an informed public making informed decisions that will lead our country if they don’t have information, solid information that’s reliable. Getting their attention, though, is a very serious problem.”

Before the raid on his newspaper, Meyer said, circulation was already up, “because we were trying to do the best news stories we could.” After the raid, thousands of people from across the country purchased subscriptions in a show of support. Many of them, he said, are actually reading the stories. Some of the out-of-state readers have become so invested in the news out of Marion that they are even writing letters to the editor.

His advice to other journalists: “Forget all the gimmicks.”

“Don’t worry about what you put on social media,” Meyer said. “Don’t worry about the video you’re shooting. Don’t worry about the blogs you’re writing. Don’t worry about the marketing techniques. Do good journalism, period. Good journalism. That means finding stories that affect people and giving them an opportunity to do something about it.”

Joan Meyer edited the newspaper for 50 years and continued writing until she died. Her last column ran in the same issue as her obituary.

Her death intensified national interest in a story about the abuse of power in trying to silence a free press.

“Although I’m sure she didn’t want to go out the way she did, worrying about the Hitler tactics and so on, it is kind of rare, at age 98, that your death means something to someone, that you go out and you’re you’re sort of a martyr to your cause,” her son said.






Other hall of fame inductees were Ann Brill, dean of the University of Kansas journalism school; Sally Buzbee, a former executive editor of the Washington Post and Associated Press; small-town publishers Cynthia Desilet Haynes and Ben Marshall; retired Wichita Eagle and Kansas City Star reporter Roy Wenzl; and photojournalists Barbara Kinney, David Peterson, George Olson, Joel Sartore and W. Eugene Smith.

WITNESS: Nate Gowdy’s Lens on January 6, 2021

 WITNESS: Nate Gowdy’s Lens on January 6th, 2021

January 9 - February 15, 2025

 

On January 20, 2017, Nate Gowdy stood at the U.S. Capitol, camera in hand, as Donald J. Trump—with right hand raised and left atop the Lincoln Bible—took the oath of office, vowing to end “American carnage.” It was an ominous prelude to a presidency that would redefine American political expression.

 Four years later, on January 6, 2021, Gowdy returned to Washington, DC, prepared to document Trump’s “Save America” rally at the Ellipse. Instead, he witnessed surreal scenes unfold: militants marching, kneeling in prayer, posing for group photos, breaking for hotdogs, rampaging against the Capitol’s sworn protectors, and leading thousands to defile the Inauguration Day stage.

 This fine art exhibition, WITNESS: Nate Gowdy’s Lens on January 6th, 2021, examines that day as a theater of chaos and conviction. Gowdy's stark, unflinching images depict the U.S. Capitol, one of democracy’s most sacred symbols, as it becomes a haunting set piece in a dystopian tableau of domestic terror—an inside job.

 Twice assaulted for being deemed "fake news," Gowdy persisted in exposing the truth. Shot on assignment for Rolling Stone, his images transcend traditional photojournalism, revealing the kinetic energy and raw emotions of insurrection: vulnerability, rage, fear, and euphoria. These are not just photographs of an event but intimate portraits of the humanity—and inhumanity—that defined it.

 Through this collection, Gowdy challenges viewers to confront the complexities of identity, power, and the fragility of democratic ideals. WITNESS invites us to reflect on the contradictions of that day, presenting the Capitol not only as a battleground but as a mirror to the nation itself. What do these images reveal about us—and what do they demand we reckon with?

 On January 20, 2017, Nate Gowdy stood at the U.S. Capitol, camera in hand, as Donald J. Trump—with right hand raised and left atop the Lincoln Bible—took the oath of office, vowing to end “American carnage.” It was an ominous prelude to a presidency that would redefine American political expression.

 Four years later, on January 6, 2021, Gowdy returned to Washington, DC, prepared to document Trump’s “Save America” rally at the Ellipse. Instead, he witnessed surreal scenes unfold: militants marching, kneeling in prayer, posing for group photos, breaking for hotdogs, rampaging against the Capitol’s sworn protectors, and leading thousands to defile the Inauguration Day stage.

 This fine art exhibition, WITNESS: Nate Gowdy’s Lens on January 6th, 2021, examines that day as a theater of chaos and conviction. Gowdy's stark, unflinching images depict the U.S. Capitol, one of democracy’s most sacred symbols, as it becomes a haunting set piece in a dystopian tableau of domestic terror—an inside job.

 Twice assaulted for being deemed "fake news," Gowdy persisted in exposing the truth. Shot on assignment for Rolling Stone, his images transcend traditional photojournalism, revealing the kinetic energy and raw emotions of insurrection: vulnerability, rage, fear, and euphoria. These are not just photographs of an event but intimate portraits of the humanity—and inhumanity—that defined it.

 Through this collection, Gowdy challenges viewers to confront the complexities of identity, power, and the fragility of democratic ideals. WITNESS invites us to reflect on the contradictions of that day, presenting the Capitol not only as a battleground but as a mirror to the nation itself. What do these images reveal about us—and what do they demand we reckon with?

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Art Market returns to the museum in Washington, D.C.

 Via Smithsonian

November 20, 2024

Native Art Market Brings Indigenous Artisans to Washington for Curated Shopping Experience

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian’s Native Art Market returns to the museum in Washington, D.C., Dec. 7 and 8. This annual event invites lovers of art and craftsmanship to meet Indigenous artists and learn about traditional Native arts and contemporary Native creativity. Forty artists will offer authentic, hand-crafted works of art, including jewelry, fashion, photography and pottery. Serious collectors and casual shoppers will find one-of-a-kind pieces at a wide range of prices. During the market, guests will enjoy music by DJ JonRay.

Museum members will have early access to the market during a preview party Dec. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The list of artists scheduled to attend includes Gallery photographer Eugene Tapahe, whose work is featured in the current exhibition "Frozen In Time".

Joe McNally "Faces of Ground Zero" Giant Polaroid Exhibit And Talk At 9/11 Museum

 

Via 9/11 Memorial and Museum

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Faces of Ground Zero: A Conversation with Joe McNally

6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET

Award-winning photographer Joe McNally’s "Faces of Ground Zero: Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001" is comprised of 246 large-scale polaroids featuring individuals who responded to 9/11 and contributed to the rescue and recovery operations at Ground Zero. A cross-section of these responder portraits will be on view in the Museum beginning this November. In conversation with Executive Vice President of Collections & Chief Curator Dr. Jan Ramirez, McNally will discuss his undertaking of this project in the emotional weeks following the attacks, how this medium served to uniquely capture this community, and his own experience interacting with those at the heart of this tragedy. 

 This program is presented as a complement to the Museum’s exhibition Faces of Ground Zero. The exhibition will be on view starting late November 2024.

More information and registration here.

Credit Joe McNally

Reflections On An Exhibition

 

Grey Villet

Coma and Compassion, Nurse Judy Strickland, New York, 1977

November 17, 2024

Today is the final day for the exhibition "The Best Of Us". 

At the conclusion of every exhibit, we find ourselves discussing our impressions, thoughts, and the feedback we received from gallery visitors and collectors. This time, our reflections are deeply meaningful. 

"The Best Of Us" was an exhibition depicting the ideals and diversity of the human experience; through nearly 50 photographs which explored the characterization of extraordinary and everyday people who renew our faith that all things are possible and exemplify our ideals. People who exemplified the best traits of humanity:  kindness, empathy, compassion, consideration, patience, generosity, resilience, and the willingness to make a difference.

Opening on October 4, as America headed into the final stage of a Presidential election, the images in the exhibit emphasized the necessity of understanding and appreciating photojournalism.

There have been many exhibits that we wish could have run longer, and this another; it will be difficult to see it come to an end. Since the opening on October 4, the exhibit has been seen by many hundreds of viewers: young, old, tours, school groups, veterans, politicians, museum curators, collectors, the "famous", and even a few homeless. We have seen parents quietly explaining the situation behind a photograph to their children, we have seen people softly weeping, and the quiet of the gallery has occasionally been startled by someone gasping "Oh my God!" 

This exhibition has affirmed our steadfast belief in the power of a photograph. The introductory wall text included this quote from Maya Angelou: "Be sure you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity”. 

We are so grateful for all of the participating photographers, so many of whom we have been privileged to have known know personally. For those who are no longer living with us, we thank their families for preserving their archives. For those still working, we honor your commitment and service to humanity.

 Thank you to all who visited the exhibit and thank you for your kind words and shared emotions. It has been deeply moving to see "The Best Of Us" personified in visitors to the exhibit.

“I cannot tell you where our history is leading us, or through what suffering, or into what era of war or peace. But wherever it is, I know people of good heart will be passing there.” -Carl Mydans, Life photojournalist

View "The Best of Us" and other past exhibits archived here.

Anna Boyiazis Photographs Featured in "Growing Up in Climate Chaos"

 

Via The New York Times

November 7, 2024

Growing Up in Climate Chaos

When you’re a teenager, everything can feel like a crisis. But for these teenagers living in areas around the world affected by climate change, the sense of growing crisis is real — not in some hazy future but today, disrupting their adolescence in ways both large and small…

Obama Mchembe pays attention to rain. He has to. When the roads flood, he stays home from school for days at a time. Floods, heat and drought make it harder to grow crops, so his family struggles to buy staple foods, including maize flour, rice and sugar. ‘‘In the past, it was normal for us to eat foods like rice,’’ Mchembe says. ‘‘But now, for a month, we can eat rice once or twice.

Mchembe worries about what climate change means for the future, both for himself and for his country. He and his classmates have started planting cassia trees in a field beside their school — a simple act that ‘‘makes all of us feel courage.’’

full article here

Mchembe and his schoolmates in the shade of cassia trees

Photograph by Anna Boyiazis

Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds

Via Utah Policy

November 6, 2024 

Celebrated Native American art exhibit comes to UVU’s Museum of Art at Lakemount

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the Utah Valley University Museum of Art at Lakemount is pleased to present an art exhibition by Diné (Navajo) artist Eugene Tapahe. “Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” opens with a reception on Tuesday, November 12, from 5-7:30 pm. The exhibition will remain on view through February 15, 2025.

“Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” explores multiple meanings, connecting the contemporary world with tradition while highlighting the relationship between people and the land. Curated by Katherine Jackson, professor of art history at UVU, the exhibition includes a combination of Tapahe’s installations, photography, and performance, engaging people and places while mapping monuments as sacred sites throughout the modern world.

“I draw inspiration from my Diné (Navajo) traditions and modern experiences. My work reflects the fragility and resilience of Native American culture. I strive to unite these two worlds in my concepts while transcending worldly uncertainties. Through various visual mediums, I intend to celebrate and honor the identity and culture of Native Americans. Ultimately, the persona of my work offers unity, hope, and healing,” said Tapahe.

Tapahe is Diné (Navajo) and originally from Window Rock, Arizona. He received his MFA in studio art from Brigham Young University. Tapahe has exhibited his work in prestigious shows at the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market, the Cherokee Art Market, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. He has received awards for his photography from the Cherokee Art Market (2018) and the Museum of Northern Arizona (2019), and he was honored with two International Awards of Excellence from “Communication Arts” magazine.

Tapahe’s work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Arizona State Museum, the Minnesota History Center, the College of Wooster Art Museum, the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University, and more.

His art is represented by the Modern West gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah; Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Rainmaker Gallery in Bristol, England; and Four Winds Gallery in Sydney, Australia. Tapahe resides in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Sharon, and their two daughters, Erin and Dion.

“Eugene Tapahe: Between the Worlds” is one of several concurrent exhibitions at the UVU Museum of Art at Lakemount. The annual Faculty Art Exhibition highlighting the work of 41 artists teaching at UVU is on view in the upstairs galleries through November 20, in addition to several exhibits of artwork from the museum’s permanent collection.

At Utah Valley University, we believe everyone deserves the transforming benefits of high-quality education — and it needs to be affordable, accessible, and flexible. With opportunities to earn everything from certificates to master’s degrees, our students succeed by gaining real-world experience and developing career-ready skills. We continue to invite people to come as they are — and leave ready and prepared to make a difference in the world.

For more information, visit UVU’s Newsroom website for fact sheets, maps, leadership bios, history, photos, b-roll, filming policies, and a list of interview-ready faculty experts at https://www.uvu.edu/newsroom/# or scan this QR code.

"The press is once again not at war, but at work"

 Via Columbia Journalism Review

November 6, 2024

"For now, a few important things seem clear for the press—things we’ve known conceptually for some time, but now hit with a shocking new clarity. The most important is that Trump’s impending second term poses a credible and unprecedented threat to press freedom as America has known it."

John Olsen's "Women's March" Photo Featured In NY Times Magazine Essay

 Via The New York Times

November 2, 2024

 John Olson/The LIFE Picture Collection: A 1970 march in New York City on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, August 26, 1970

How Will White Women Vote? It’s a Question With a Fraught History.

White and Black women have joined together to power progressive causes — from abolition to civil rights — but it’s a tenuous alliance. --Click for full article

This photograph is featured in the current Monroe Gallery exhibition "The Best of Us".

Gabriela Campos Receives Awards At New Mexico Press Association’s 2024 Better Newspapers contest

Via The Santa Fe New Mexican

October 27, 2024

Photographer Gabriela Campos took first place in the feature photo category for “Storm over Ghost Ranch"

Online photo gallery: 2nd, Gabriela Campos, “New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare honored at Albuquerque funeral.”

 

Journalists must be allowed to do their jobs safely in Lancaster County and across the US [editorial]

 Via Lancaster Online

October 27, 2024

Lancaster Safety Coalition footage shows a Lancaster city police officer pushing a photojournalist to the ground during protests Sunday, Oct. 20, in Penn Square, near the Lancaster County Convention Center, where Donald Trump was speaking.

Lancaster Safety Coalition

THE ISSUE

“A Lancaster city police officer pushed a photojournalist to the ground (last) Sunday afternoon, causing her to hit her head on the street during a protest of former President Donald Trump’s town hall event at Lancaster County Convention Center,” LNP | LancasterOnline reported. Susan Stava, a New York City-based freelance photographer, was working to capture the scene in Lancaster city’s Penn Square, where local Democrats were protesting Trump’s visit. Video shows a Lancaster city police officer firmly pushing Stava, causing her to fall backward onto the road. Stava said she landed on her camera bag, and a lens was broken.

It took the Lancaster City Bureau of Police all of three days to “investigate” the incident in which a freelance photojournalist was pushed to the ground by a city police officer. Its conclusion: The officer “followed the law including the Bureau’s training, policies, and procedures.”

--Click for full editorial

"Journalists see journalism not merely as a job, but as a calling that’s critical to the health of a democracy. Elected officials should not actively undermine their safety — or stay silent about an incident in which a journalist faced harm."

Eugene Tapahe included in Tiny Gallery Takeover exhibit Land Back

 

Via Tiny Gallery

November 1st, at 8 Stanford Place: opening reception for Land Back: A Tiny Gallery Takeover in Lenapehoking, curated by Jennifer Ley.

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month and Interwoven Power: Native Knowledge/Native Art at the Montclair Art Museum, Tiny Gallery presents Land Back featuring collections from seven contemporary Native artists, including Eugene Tapahe, installed in six Tiny Galleries across Montclair, Glen Ridge, and Bloomfield, New Jersey—all part of Lenapehoking, the ancestral homelands of the Lenape people. 

Art allows us to examine the past, interpret the present, and envision the future, and Ley’s curation of Land Back brings the stories of Indigenous Americans, too often dismissed or overlooked, forward.

One of Tiny Gallery’s missions is to bring artistic voices that may not normally be heard into communities and present them in a new context and we feel incredibly privileged to be able to collaborate with renowned Native artists.

Tiny Gallery

8 Stanford Place

Montclair, NJ 07042

Information here

"As A.I. Becomes Harder to Detect, Photography Is Having a Renaissance"

 Via The New York Times

October 25, 2024

"After at least a decade of focusing almost exclusively on painting, many of the largest and most powerful art dealers are dedicating significant attention and real estate to photography.

It is part of a broader renaissance for the medium that is arriving, perhaps counterintuitively, just as images produced by artificial intelligence become virtually indistinguishable from real documentation."

Click for full article

“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent, in dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”

 Via Columbia Journalism Review

October 23, 2024

Los Angeles Times editorials editor resigns after owner blocks presidential endorsement

Mariel Garza, the editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times, resigned on Wednesday after the newspaper’s owner blocked the editorial board’s plans to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent,” Garza told me in a phone conversation. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”

On October 11, Patrick Soon-Shiong, who bought the newspaper for $500 million in 2018, informed the paper’s editorial board that the Times would not be making an endorsement for president. The message was conveyed to Garza by Terry Tang, the paper’s editor.

The board had intended to endorse Harris, Garza told me, and she had drafted the outline of a proposed editorial. She had hoped to get feedback on the outline and was taken aback upon being told that the newspaper would not take a position.

“I didn’t think we were going to change our readers’ minds—our readers, for the most part, are Harris supporters,” Garza told me. “We’re a very liberal paper. I didn’t think we were going to change the outcome of the election in California.

“But two things concern me: This is a point in time where you speak your conscience no matter what. And an endorsement was the logical next step after a series of editorials we’ve been writing about how dangerous Trump is to democracy, about his unfitness to be president, about his threats to jail his enemies. We have made the case in editorial after editorial that he shouldn’t be reelected.”

--Click for full article

Review: "hope and fighting for improvement are central features of The Best of Us "

 Via Pastiempo

The Santa Fe New Mexican

October 18, 2024

Gabriela E. Campos

A nursing station in the Frost 19 unit, Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, Santa Fe, NM, December, 2020

Here's your weekly roundup of some of the must-see, must-do, must-know things that need to be on your radar this week.

PICTURE THIS

‘Best’ Practices

In one image, three masked, exhausted-looking medical professionals slump at a desk, one’s head leaning on another’s shoulder. Two others show American societal matriarchs Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt — the former serious, the latter smiling. Yet another shows a Black man with “Vote” painted on his face during a march in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.

All are part of The Best of Us, running through mid-November at Monroe Gallery of Photography. The gallery describes the featured images as “depicting the ideals and diversity of the human experience which explore the characterization of extraordinary and everyday people who renew our faith that all things are possible and exemplify our ideals.”

In other words, hope and fighting for improvement are central features of The Best of Us — distinguishing it from some previous Monroe Gallery exhibitions. Photojournalism is the gallery’s bread and butter, and the fruits of that craft can be compelling but challenging.

The Best of Us hangs on the gallery’s walls, while the virtual project The Campaign can be viewed at monroegallery.com/VirtualProjects. It coincides with the election season, ending November 24. Images include a rapturously smiling woman wearing an “Obama, You’re Fired” shirt meeting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump; former President Barack Obama talking and gesturing as rain falls; and former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney gazing at their watches simultaneously, a painting of Abraham Lincoln behind them. — B.S.

details

9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, through November 17

Monroe Gallery of Photography

112 Don Gaspar Avenue

505-992-0800; monroegallery.com

Ed Kashi EXPOSES How Photography Shapes Our View of the World

 Via Planet of One

October 12, 2024

In this insightful interview, award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker Ed Kashi dives deep into his journey from a first-generation American with Iraqi roots to becoming a globally renowned storyteller through photography. He reflects on the pivotal moments that shaped his career, from discovering his passion for photography at Syracuse University to capturing the raw realities of global conflicts and social issues. Kashi shares his thoughts on the challenges of photojournalism, the emotional toll of documenting human suffering, and the importance of empathy in his work. He also discusses his commitment to highlighting the positive stories that often go untold, particularly in underrepresented communities. This conversation is a powerful look into the life of a photographer who has dedicated his career to chasing narratives, both profound and personal.

The Long Path Toward Establishing Indigenous People’s Day, a Day to Honor and Recognize the First Peoples of America

 Via Smithsonian Magazine

October 11, 2024

The Long Path Toward Establishing Indigenous People’s Day, a Day to Honor and Recognize the First Peoples of America

Native American Indians are committed to making Indigenous Peoples Day a national holiday in 2024.

This Monday, October 14, many Americans will celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day by recognizing the history and contributions of Native peoples. President Biden’s administration has officially recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day since 2021, but it is not yet a federal holiday. Thus, for the fourth year in a row, the United States will officially observe Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day. However, The Indigenous Peoples' Day Act, reintroduced in Congress on October 2, 2023, would potentially designate the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day nationwide. The bill currently has 56 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and 11 cosponsors in the Senate.


“On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the perseverance and courage of Indigenous peoples, show our gratitude for the myriad contributions they have made to our world, and renew our commitment to respect Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.” President Joseph Biden, 2023 Proclamation on Indigenous People’s Day


Looking back, generations of Native people throughout the Western Hemisphere have protested Columbus Day. In the forefront of their minds is the fact the colonial takeovers of the Americas, starting with Columbus, led to the deaths of millions of Native people and the forced assimilation of survivors. American Indian activists and their allies have long argued that Columbus Day, Columbus statues, and the discovery myth endorse his actions which include enslavement, torture and other atrocities to Native people.


In 1977, participants at the United Nations International Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations in the Americas proposed that Indigenous Peoples’ Day replace Columbus Day as a national holiday. Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands that later became the United States of America. And it urges Americans to rethink history marking a change of course from previous administrations in their proclamations marking Columbus Day, which honors the explorer, Christopher Columbus.

The movement to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Native American Day has gained momentum and spread to states, cities, and towns across the United States. The first state to rename Columbus Day was South Dakota, in 1990. Hawai’i has also changed the name of its October 12 holiday to Discoverers’ Day, in honor of the Polynesian navigators who peopled the islands. Berkeley, California, became the first city to make the change in 1992, when the city council renamed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In 2015 an estimated 6,000 Native people and their supporters gathered at Randall’s Island, New York, to recognize the survival of the Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. The demonstration’s success and the worldwide media attention it attracted planted the seeds for creating an Indigenous Peoples’ Day in New York City. According to the website RenameColumbusDay.org:

Approximate cities:  216
Approximate schools:  83
Approximate counties:  20
Approximate states not observing Columbus Day: 29, plus Washington, D.C., have renamed Columbus Day and adopted Indigenous Peoples' Day

Kentucky now has the most cities of any of the states, who have adopted Indigenous People’s Day, thanks to Indigenous Rights Activist Angela Arnette-Garner. Arnette-Garner said, “As a long-time Indigenous rights activist, I have lobbied city, county, and state governments in Kentucky for the passage of Indigenous Peoples Day proclamations (thus far 32 city, county, and state proclamations passed in Kentucky). This, in an effort to help educate people about Indigenous history and culture, encourage truthful dialogue about genocide, expose the shameful legacy of Christopher Columbus, repudiate the doctrine of discovery, and advocate for the decolonization of education. Yet, my ultimate goal in founding the Indigenous Peoples Day movement of Kentucky, is to demonstrate that if widespread support could be garnered in one of the most staunchly conservative states in the country, then establishment of a federal holiday is truly attainable. I fervently hope that Congress takes a serious look at the Indigenous Peoples Day movement of Kentucky.”

Universities and schools across the country are also observing the new commemoration. “Mythology about Columbus and the ‘discovery’ of the Americas continues to be many American children’s first classroom lesson about encountering different cultures, ethnicities, and peoples. Teaching more accurate and complete narratives and differing perspectives is key to our society’s rethinking its history,” stated Renee Gokey (Eastern Shawnee), NMAI Teacher Services Coordinator. In past years, the museum has hosted Indigenous Peoples’ Curriculum Days and teach-ins at the beginning of the school year in Washington DC and New York. Recently a Teach-In for Change was held at the National Museum of the American Indian in the Washington DC to prepare teachers on how to prepare for Indigenous Peoples Day. Links to additional resources are available through these links: National Museum of the American Indian, Native Knowledge 360°, Learning for Justice, and IllumiNative. These resources include curricula, sample lesson plans, books, and videos.

Throughout Indian Country, Indigenous Peoples Day is being observed through prayer vigils, parades, powwows, symposiums, concerts, lectures, rallies, and classrooms, all in an effort to help America rethink American history.


Dennis Zotigh | Dennis W. Zotigh (Kiowa/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo/Isante Dakota Indian) is a member of the Kiowa Gourd Clan and San Juan Pueblo Winter Clan and a descendant of Sitting Bear and No Retreat, both principal war chiefs of the Kiowas. Dennis works as a writer and cultural specialist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Nina Berman Guided Tour Through Her Exhibition "We The People" At The Capa Space

Via The Capa Space

October 10, 2024

 

ARTIST TALK - Photographer Nina Berman will do a guided tour through her We The People exhibition for an inside look at the protest photographs she has been taking for over thirty years.  She will talk about what inspired her to turn her lens on protest in America and what she has learned about the people who organize and assert their right to protest. Sunday, October 20th 2024 @ 4pm. Suggested donation $10. 

 Click here to RSVP

WE THE PEOPLE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY NINA BERMAN

We the People brings together more than three decades of work by photographer Nina Berman who has tenaciously documented the public outrages, injustices, protestations and longings of a deeply dissatisfied and increasingly polarized society. What the United States should be, and for whom, are questions at the heart of Nina’s work and the 2024 election. September 8th - November 24th, 2024

At protests, police are increasingly arresting members of the press—especially those with cameras.

 

Via Columbia Journalism Review

October 7, 2024

Since the violence of last October 7—as the conflict between Israel and Palestine has grown deadlier, and spread more widely in the Middle East—it has also been, according to the US Press Freedom Tracker, a nonpartisan database of press freedom violations, a “protest year.” The visual journalists who cover demonstrations across America—photographers, videographers—are at the center of the action. “We have to get creative, go on the floor, shoot through cops’ legs, just to get that visual,” Madison Swart—a photojournalist in New York whose work has been published in Out and Cosmopolitan, among other places—told me. In May, while covering a pro-Palestinian protest, Swart was briefly detained by police officers—one of forty-three journalists who have been arrested in the past year, triple the previous number. According to Stephanie Sugars, a reporter for the US Press Freedom Tracker, “it has felt that the predominant number of incidents, at least since the protests started, are against people who are documenting visually in some capacity.”

--full article here.