Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Friday, January 9, 2026

Documenting history: Ron Haviv on one’s visual truth

 Via iMEdD 



One of the most consequential conflict photojournalists of our era, Ron Haviv, talked with us about how his photographs have contributed to the downfall of dictators, assisted war crimes tribunals, and led the way for the representation of conflict for the world —from Panama and the former Yugoslavia to Darfur and Ukraine. We discussed the power and limitations of visual representation in journalism, particularly in the reporting of history.


Ron Haviv is one of the most consequential conflict photojournalists of our era. He has spent over three decades on the frontlines of history, photographing more than 25 conflicts in over 100 countries. His work has not only documented history but actively influenced it —from serving as evidence in war crimes tribunals to helping trigger shifts in US foreign policy. We first sat down with him at the iMEdD International Journalism Forum to explore the full range of his career, focusing on the enduring ethical mission of photojournalism and the forces currently reshaping it: from the critical educational role of the VII Academy to the way we perceive and verify visual truth. We later met at this year’s Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC25), where we expanded our initial conversation to reflect how these questions continue to evolve. As he put it during his GIJC25 “Investigative Visual Journalism” workshop, “Visual journalism is a field of practice that incorporates reporting, visual documentation, narrative storytelling, and public accountability,” a definition that underscores both the gravity of the work and the moral imperative that accompanies it.

Over several decades, Haviv’s images have spanned the full spectrum of photojournalism’s impact—from the war crimes courts in The Hague, where his photographs were part of the evidence, to his coverage in Panama that may have influenced US policy, and his ongoing documentation of humanitarian crises in places such as Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Taken together, these different outcomes naturally lead to a central question:

How have these different outcomes ultimately defined your view of photojournalism’s core purpose and its enduring ethical responsibility in the contemporary media landscape?   

Now having the ability to look back at my work and its impact —and also its lack of impact— over the course of the last 40 years or so, I can see that not only my work but the work of visual journalism plays a role in society, that it partners with society in its ability to inform, to educate, to cajole, to embarrass people into action.   

I think that the overall goal has always been, relatively from the beginning of my career, to create work that has the ability to have an impact, to push, to motivate people into some action, or at the very least to have understanding and awareness of what’s going on, especially in terms of places where their governments are often complicit, responsible, or have a play in what’s going on in a faraway place.   

As an American, often that’s almost the entire world, so I feel that responsibility as an American visual journalist.

The overall goal has always been to create work that has the ability to have an impact or at very least to have understanding and awareness of what’s going on, especially in terms of places where their governments have a play in what’s going on in a faraway place.  I feel that responsibility as an American visual journalist.

color photograph of Opposition candidate Guillermo Ford in blood-soaked shirt in Panama, on the election day, 1989
Opposition candidate Guillermo Ford in Panama, on the election day, 1989. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation.


What was the most defining moment in your career that made you realize the power of photography, the power of the image?   

I think it’s probably just a combination of two things. The first would be right at the beginning of my career, my first real foreign assignment in the Central American country of Panama, where a dictator held elections, lost the elections, nullified the elections, and then had the would-be victors beaten.   

I photographed the vice president-elect [editor’s note: Guiellermo Ford], covered in the blood of his bodyguard, who was killed trying to protect him, being beaten up by a paramilitary supporter of the dictator. That photograph was featured on the front pages of newspapers and magazines around the world. Later that year, when the United States invaded Panama to overthrow the dictator, the president of the United States [editor’s note: George H. W. Bush] referenced the photograph as one of the justifications for the invasion.   

It wasn’t whether I agreed with the invasion, and I certainly didn’t believe the invasion was solely due to the photograph, but the photograph did play a role in the discussion that led to the invasion. It was discussed in Congress, used by the opposition on the ground in Panama, and utilized to raise awareness and garner more support for overthrowing the dictator.   

Then, three years later, in the third war in former Yugoslavia, I was in Bosnia, and I was able to document a Serbian paramilitary group known as the Tigers, executing unarmed Muslim civilians. I managed to take a photograph, basically documenting what later became known as ethnic cleansing. The photograph was also published around the world, but this time there was no reaction. The same president who reacted to the photograph in Panama was in power during the war in Bosnia and did nothing. And so, while I was, I don’t think naive, to believe that the Panama picture succeeded on its own, including the foreign policy of the American government, when a similar photograph came into play a few years later, it was not part of the American foreign policy, and therefore, nobody was going to react to it, and nobody did. It was only after time that the photograph began to take on its own power.

It was in those two instances that I realized both the power and the limitations of what a photograph could do. 

Members of Arkan's Serbian paramilitary group, the Tigers, execute unarmed Muslim civilians during the first battle of the Bosnian war
Bijeljina, April 1992. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation



You’ve often said your work “documents history.” Thinking about all the historical moments you’ve covered, which one feels most crucial for your archives, and how does your role as a witness influence your continued drive to document history?    

First of all, the work that I do is not completely altruistic, right? It is because I have this interest in history. For me, starting early on, to be in Berlin when the wall came down, to watch Nelson Mandela walk out of prison, to be at Baghdad when the statue came down, to witness these things for myself, real history, it’s remarkable, it is incredible, what an amazing way I think to live my life.    

Now, when you add the fact that I’m able to take photographs and share my subjective interpretation of these events with people, showing them what I saw and what I think, it is an incredible privilege. That itself is a motivating factor in continuing to do this, because the world continues to change.    

In the time since I started, the world changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2001 with the Twin Towers, then the War on Terror, then the Arab Spring, all these different things that need documentation and have had an incredible impact on the lives of people in the world.     

For me, to be able to see it, document it, and experience it is quite incredible.    

Photography allows for multiple interpretations, and framing is critical. Have you ever had your photos misinterpreted or presented in a way that distorted their meaning?    

The biggest one and probably the most impactful one was from a photograph in Bosnia. I took a photograph of ethnic cleansing, and it was a very well-known photograph, and it’s been continuously published around the world. But what’s important about the photograph, aside from what you see in the image, is the caption, so you know what’s going on, who’s who, what does the symbol on the soldier’s arm say, who are the civilians that are dying, and so on.    

During the first part of the war in Ukraine in 2014, a well-known Russian blogger with millions of followers took the photograph and let the image stand on its own. All he did was change the captions and say, “Ukrainian soldiers kill Russian civilians”. And then the photograph goes viral in Russia. Τhen somebody made an exhibition and used the same caption. So, I think to this day, if you show that photograph to people in Russia, they won’t identify the victims as Muslims and the assailants as Serbs.
    
The work that I do is not completely altruistic, right? It is because I have this interest in history […] In the time since I started, the world changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2001 with the Twin Towers, then the War on Terror, then the Arab Spring. For me, to be able to see [the impact on lives of people], document it, and experience it is quite incredible. 



You’ve often said your work “documents history.” Thinking about all the historical moments you’ve covered, which one feels most crucial for your archives, and how does your role as a witness influence your continued drive to document history?    

First of all, the work that I do is not completely altruistic, right? It is because I have this interest in history. For me, starting early on, to be in Berlin when the wall came down, to watch Nelson Mandela walk out of prison, to be at Baghdad when the statue came down, to witness these things for myself, real history, it’s remarkable, it is incredible, what an amazing way I think to live my life.    

Now, when you add the fact that I’m able to take photographs and share my subjective interpretation of these events with people, showing them what I saw and what I think, it is an incredible privilege. That itself is a motivating factor in continuing to do this, because the world continues to change.    

In the time since I started, the world changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2001 with the Twin Towers, then the War on Terror, then the Arab Spring, all these different things that need documentation and have had an incredible impact on the lives of people in the world.     

For me, to be able to see it, document it, and experience it is quite incredible.    

Photography allows for multiple interpretations, and framing is critical. Have you ever had your photos misinterpreted or presented in a way that distorted their meaning?    

The biggest one and probably the most impactful one was from a photograph in Bosnia. I took a photograph of ethnic cleansing, and it was a very well-known photograph, and it’s been continuously published around the world. But what’s important about the photograph, aside from what you see in the image, is the caption, so you know what’s going on, who’s who, what does the symbol on the soldier’s arm say, who are the civilians that are dying, and so on.    

During the first part of the war in Ukraine in 2014, a well-known Russian blogger with millions of followers took the photograph and let the image stand on its own. All he did was change the captions and say, “Ukrainian soldiers kill Russian civilians”. And then the photograph goes viral in Russia. Τhen somebody made an exhibition and used the same caption. So, I think to this day, if you show that photograph to people in Russia, they won’t identify the victims as Muslims and the assailants as Serbs.    

The work that I do is not completely altruistic, right? It is because I have this interest in history […] In the time since I started, the world changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2001 with the Twin Towers, then the War on Terror, then the Arab Spring. For me, to be able to see [the impact on lives of people], document it, and experience it is quite incredible. 

Photojournalists who cover conflicts and civil unrest have long been challenged to decide whether to put the camera down and offer help when faced with a victim. How do you grapple with that ethical dilemma, and how difficult is it to make such a profound decision under pressure?    

It’s a personal decision. Everybody has to make their own choice. So, I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer, but I had to decide early on in my career what I would do when it would happen. On paper, it’s simple.    

If I’m the only one there that can help and I’m not going to get killed, I’ll help. If somebody else is there, if there’s a doctor, a medic, somebody else who can do the same thing I could do, then I’m going to do my job, because I am there as your eyes. I have a responsibility; I’m not there as an aid worker. There is no question I’ve had the ability and opportunity to save people, and I’ve had times when I felt there was nothing I could do or I would be killed, and I was left with the only thing I could do, which was to try to document the aftermath. There have been times when I wasn’t allowed to do even that because I had a gun put to my head.    

There have been times when my colleagues and I have taken wounded people to hospitals and feeding centers. The only thing I don’t do is insert myself into the situation once I’ve interacted. Then, I’m no longer a journalist, and I stop taking photographs. I don’t photograph things that I influence.    

Following Jean Baudrillard’s reasoning that “a war that is not broadcasted is a non-existent war”: Do you find that some conflicts become more real or “existent” than others simply because they receive more media coverage?  

Absolutely. There was a Reuters correspondent who was killed in Sierra Leone named Kurt Schork. He was one of those journalists who would look for these non-existent wars and realize, “Oh, nobody’s paying attention to this.” And when he would show up, everybody else would follow, because this was something we needed to pay attention to.    

There’s a lot going on in the world, and the audience is often completely burned out, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be documented or that we shouldn’t pay attention to it.      

If I’m the only one there that can help and I’m not going to get killed, I’ll help. If somebody else is there, who can do the same thing I could do, then I’m going to do my job, because I am there as your eyes.

Since we are talking about documenting history and you have covered so many war zones, how do you feel about the fact that history in Gaza was not fully documented?  

I don’t know if I like the phrase of that, because it would be unfair to the Palestinian journalists who risked their lives and did an incredible job of documenting it.  

At the same time, while we saw the impact of Israel’s attacks on Gaza civilians, which was one part of it —and a very, very big part of it—, we only saw a very small glimpse of Israeli soldiers, almost nothing of them in action, and we didn’t see Hamas at all; it’s like Hamas was a ghost. So, you can say two-thirds of that conflict was not documented. If you want to use the word “fully” in that way, then I think yes, it’s very difficult to say it was fully documented.

But we have the same thing to some degree in Ukraine, right? The Russian side is probably a little bit more documented than Hamas, but still very limited. It’s very hard as a foreign journalist to get to the Russians to document what they’re doing.

In most wars, all sides are becoming very aware of the value or importance of outside imagery. All sides document themselves with citizen, government and military “journalism”. In cases like Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, there is always a need for independent journalism to be done on the ground. It would fill the story out in a different way. But again, that being said, in the war in Gaza the amount of powerful and, as far as I’m concerned, believable material that has come from the Palestinian journalists can’t be denied, and it’s what we have.

A stroller lays abandoned on the path to safety as people flee a Russian assault. Irpin, Ukraine, 2022
An abandoned stroller sits at a crossing where Ukrainians fled Russian forces advancing through the town of Irpin, Ukraine, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation.

You co-founded the VII Photo Agency. What was the vision behind starting an agency? And how has it adapted to the continuously evolving landscape of photojournalism and visual journalism?   


In about 1999 through 2000, 2001, Mark Getty from the Getty family and Bill Gates from Microsoft made an assumption that whoever controls imagery in this new digital world would be in very good shape in terms of finances. So, they both started photo agencies, one called Getty Images, the other called Corbis. Then they proceeded to acquire all of these smaller photo agencies, effectively cornering the market and controlling the imagery used on the internet.   

Three colleagues —Gary Knight, John Stanmeyer, and Antonín Kratochvíl— and I were represented by a small agency called Saba, run by a guy named Marcel Saba. And then Chris Morris was with Blackstar, James Nachtwey was with Magnum, and Alexandra Boulat was with SIPA. All of us felt that the agencies were going to be bought up by these conglomerates, except for Magnum, and we were not going to have much of a say in how our work was represented, we would be part of a multinational corporation, and we basically wouldn’t have any control over the business side of our photography and the distribution of our photography.   

So, Gary Knight and John Stanmeyer thought it was a good time to break away from these corporate entities and start something where we could control our own destiny. It was primarily a decision driven by business, but one that also emphasized independence in terms of our work, including where our work could be seen, who we work for, and having control over our own destiny.  

As the United States moves into a second Trump administration, the idea of “fake news” remains deeply rooted, from the highest political offices down to everyday conversations on the street. At the same time, economic pressures on traditional media have reduced the number of employed visual journalist.


black and white photograph of a man detained outside a Federal courtroom in New York City by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be sent for deportation, 2025

A man is detained outside a Federal courtroom in New York City by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be sent for deportation (2025). Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation.


Given the current economic pressures, rapid technological change, and deep political polarization in the United States, how do you think these forces will shape the future of journalism and photojournalism, both in terms of working conditions and the kind of stories that will be told?    

As the United States moves into a second Trump administration, the idea of “fake news” remains deeply rooted, from the highest political offices down to everyday conversations on the street. At the same time, economic pressures on traditional media have reduced the number of employed visual journalists—pushing audiences and newsrooms to rely more heavily on “new” and alternative media for everything from politics to war coverage. Yet there is often a growing disconnect between the role of a trained visual journalist and the amplification of certain narratives circulating through these newer platforms. 

This raises ongoing and essential questions: Who is a journalist? Who is their audience? And how is reporting being produced, verified, and distributed? In visual journalism especially, the departure of experienced practitioners has created space for the rise of the citizen journalist—often providing immediate and invaluable perspectives, but also further blurring the boundaries of expertise, credibility, and responsibility. 

What is your general view on the future of journalism and photojournalism? What gives you hope, and what keeps you up at night most of the time?   

What continues to give me hope is that you still see instances where imagery can rise above the noise, still have an impact, and still have people remember photographs. Let’s just start with the photograph of Aylan Kurdi, “the child on the beach”. Several photographers took that photograph, which went around the world. Most importantly, the then-Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, spoke about that photograph and talked about how it changed her opinion about migration. So, it had a dramatic impact alongside the other millions of people who saw that photograph.  

We had a Getty photograph from the US border with a child crying. Being separated from his mother, she was being questioned by border police, which went viral and became a talking point for the conversation about the border. There are times when photographs can rise above the discussion and engage people. This gives me hope that it can continue to happen.   

On the other hand, we have so many images taken that what if these images are no longer able to rise above the noise, and people become overwhelmed by photojournalism, or simply don’t care or don’t want to pay attention to it. That’s fearful. When that happens, especially when photographers are risking their lives to tell these stories, it’s a waste of that energy and effort; most importantly, it is completely disrespectful to the stories we’re trying to tell.    

My fear is that it will reach a point where people are only looking inward and won’t care, even if they are somehow responsible for other people’s lives. They just don’t want to acknowledge it, adjust to it, change it, or make it better. That’s one of the reasons why this work exists: to remind them we’re all interconnected.   

The diversity of voices is one of the biggest changes, certainly from when I started.
In an era where anyone can capture and share moments on social media, how has this reshaped the role of the photojournalist?  


I don’t think it’s changing anything. You’re talking about places and people photographing things that I was never going to see, or any of us ever going to ever see before. So, this is great. This is an extra layer of visual information. But these are often just snapshots. These are like moments in time, which can be very dramatic, incredible, and powerful; no question about it. But in terms of this idea about authorship, integrity, telling a story, narrative, the citizen journalist is not doing that; that’s still our job. It’s still what we’re trained for. So, they’re different things.

But again, this idea of citizen journalists, people wanting to take photographs with their phones, or small cameras, and becoming more interested in photography, is great for the idea of photography, because people are starting to appreciate it even more, and then they become engaged not only as content providers, but also as content consumers.


Through VII Academy and Foundation, you teach the next generation of photographers. Do you observe significant differences in how younger photographers approach and value their work compared to previous generations?   


Well, I think now because of technology and the affordability of cameras, whether motion or still, they have the ability to tell their own stories of their own communities and so on, in a way that they never had before. Through many of our students, we’re seeing stories from Libya and Iraq and Afghanistan and Peru and Colombia.  


I think the diversity of voices is one of the biggest changes, certainly from when I started. [Back then] it was still mostly male-dominated —mostly western male and certainly mostly white. I think that there’s room for multiple voices; I think now we’ve reached that point. Something that the Foundation through the Academy is very conscious of ensuring is that they are able to learn and to tell their stories with authorship, with integrity and with the principles of proper photojournalism.


If you had to choose two photos that characterize you, which ones would they be and why?  


As a photojournalist, I would have to go back to the two early photographs, one from Panama, and one from Bosnia, because they basically created these two pillars. One of the possibility of affecting change and the other the limitations of what you can do. So, it would be the vice president being beaten and the civilians being killed.   


As a person, maybe there would be a picture from Bosnia of this Albanian guy from North Macedonia, a guy named Hajrush Ziberi, who’s been taken prisoner, and his hands are like this, and he’s asking me basically to help him. He knows he’s going to be killed. And I couldn’t help him. That picture has a lot of impact on me, because I also met the family, spent time with them, and am still in touch with them. I had thought that when I was going to meet them, they would blame me for not saving their son, and they were exactly the opposite and thanked me, which I thought was so kind; it’s hard to believe. His death didn’t go unnoticed, and it had an impact.   


There’s a photograph from Darfur, of a young girl with her two friends. She’s about to walk seven to eight hours in the desert to get firewood for her family. Her life was very difficult. I tried to find her after the picture was taken, but I was never able to find her. I don’t know if she survived or not. But the way she holds her body, the clothing and color of the clothing that she’s wearing, it’s a very resilient yet resigned image. She was trying to be helped by the international community, and to this day, 20 years later, Darfur still is not helped, so it’s very symbolic of kind of my approach or my feeling that in the end, I think there was some good done with some of my work, but most of the time the work failed.   


What is the most important lesson you’ve learned during your long and distinguished career?    


That I can’t be everywhere at once. The world continues to change, so there’s always another story to come. I strive to do the best that I can, always with utmost respect and dignity for the subjects I am photographing.  

color photograph of Young displaced girls from Darfur, Sudan leave a camp to gather firewood for their families
Girls of Darfur, 2005. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation





Ron Haviv, Co-Founder and Director of the VII Foundation, was a speaker at 2025 iMEdD International Journalism Forum, where he led a workshop titled “If I can’t see it, I can’t document it” together with photojournalist Nicole Tung.

This interview is published by iMEdD and is made available under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licence does not apply to the images by Ron Haviv included in this publication, which are published courtesy of Ron Haviv and the VII Foundation for the purposes of this piece. Any other use of these images by third parties requires their prior permission.


Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Ed Kashi Feature In The Guardian: 'A front row seat to witness history’

 Via The Guardian

January 6, 2026


color photograph of a 14-year-old boy carrying  the carcass of a freshly killed goat, which has been roasted by the flames of burning tyres at the Trans Amadi Slaughter abattoir in Nigeria

"You will witness pain and suffering’ … Trans Amadi Slaughter, Nigeria, 2006


‘A front row seat to witness history’: Ed Kashi’s astonishing global images – in pictures

From a thriving miniature city inside a Cairo cemetery to a goat sacrifice in Nigeria, the photojournalist’s eye-opening images are celebrated in a new book.


Related Exhibition: Ed Kashi A Period In Time celebrated Ed Kashi's most recent book, A Period in Time: Looking Back while Moving Forward: 1977–2022, a stunning and expansive retrospective of photographs spanning the world and his prolific career. One of the world's most celebrated photojournalists and filmmakers, Ed Kashi has dedicated the past 45 years to documenting the social and geopolitical issues that define our era. 

Friday, December 26, 2025

Photographers Behind the Artists - Screening of New Documentary "Steve Schapiro Being Everywhwere"

December 26, 2025

Via Pasatiempo

black and white photograph of artist Rene Magritte in bowler hat and suit and tie standing in front of one of his paintings in the Museum of Modern Art in New York
Steve Schapiro:  Rene Magritte, MOMA, New York, 1965

EXHIBITIONISM


Photographers Behind the Artists


While we admire the work of famed and influential artists of our time, we don’t often see images of the artists themselves. The Monroe Gallery’s Artists Behind the Art exhibition gives the viewer a peek at the people behind some of the 20th century’s most iconic works, including Picasso (1881-1973), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Man Ray (1890-1976), Henri Matisse (1869-1954), and many more, as seen through the eyes of a select group of photographers who were granted access to the studios and work spaces, galleries, and candid moments of the artists in their elements.

On such photographer is Steve Schapiro (1934-2022), whose work is part of the exhibition and who didn’t just capture high-profile artists and celebrities in his portfolio, he also bore witness to significant moments in American and civil rights history, a particular focus of his.

Some of those images are part of the exhibition, and in addition, the gallery is hosting two special screenings of the new documentary Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere at Sky Cinemas on Monday, December 29, and Tuesday, December 30. Both screenings will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Maura Smith, moderated by Michelle and Sid of Monroe Gallery. — B.S.

Artists Behind the Art; Through January 25, 2026, Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar; 505-992-0800; monroegallery.com

Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere; 7 p.m. Monday, December 29, and 5 p.m. Tuesday, December 30; Sky Cinemas, 1606 Alcaldesa Street; $16; 505-216-5678; santafe.violetcrown.com

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Ashley Gilbertson Photographs "War at Home: A record of ICE’s assault on immigrants and the people’s resistance"

 Via Hammer and Hope

December 17, 2025


black and white photograph of man in US border Patrol vest and cowboy hat chasing people in a Chicago alley

Assistant Chief Patrol Agent David Kim runs down an alleyway after a caravan of federal agents pulled up on people in southwest Chicago, Nov. 6, 2025. Photographs by Ashley Gilbertson/VII for Hammer & Hope


The immigrant catchers, faces covered, chase the workers down the street in broad daylight. The enemy is the landscaper, the day laborer, the high school student born in Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela. In the masks and guns of the federal agents, we see the riot gear of the Ferguson cops, the billy clubs of the Alabama state troopers, the Klansman’s hood. And in the brave crowds who gather to confront them, we see the power of solidarity. --click for full article



“That was my neighbor!” the woman screamed through tears at federal agents. “He’s just my neighbor!”

I tried to talk to the woman pictured above. She gave me permission to use her photograph, but she didn’t want to provide her name. Like so many people around ICE, she’s scared. Usually the stories I work on are filled with quotes, but the feds won’t talk to the press, and neither will anyone else. --Ashley Gilbertson

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

STEVE SCHAPIRO: BEING EVERYWHERE SCREENING IN SANTA FE

 STEVE SCHAPIRO: BEING EVERYWHERE

DEC 29 & 30 · FILMMAKER Q&A





Over six decades, photographer Steve Schapiro bore witness to some of the most significant social and cultural moments in modern American history.

Monroe Gallery represents Schapiro’s historic photographs, and several are featured in the current “Artists Behind The Art” exhibition.

Shot shortly before his passing by filmmaker Maura Smith, Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere is a loving tribute to a man who was the quintessential "fly on the wall," waiting for moments to unfold and capturing them with a naturalism and skill that's nothing short of dazzling.

Sky Cinemas    (505) 216-5678

1606 Alcaldesa St. Santa Fe, NM 87501

Monday, December 29 7 PM

Tuesday, December 30  5PM


Promotional poster graphic for new documentary fild Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere with images from film above a white couch


Tuesday, November 25, 2025

TIME Top 100 Photos of 2025; includes photo by Mark Peterson

 Via TIME

November 25, 2025


We stand at scenic overlooks and lift our lens to capture a post card view that, of course, looks better on a postcard. It’s not about gear, or the 10,000 hours. It’s simply that almost any photograph is improved by having people in it—a lesson TIME’s Top 100 Photographs of 2025 underscores in images that capture not only a year, but also the faint but discernable shadow cast by a less human future.

The moments photojournalists document tend to be most visible on faces: the panic of a fallen runner about to be spiked, the anguish in an immigrant in a headlock, a smiling Buddha toppled in a quake. Robots (in a footrace, at a bedside) serve as comic relief partly because they have no faces. But, as machines, they carry the same ambiguous edge as artificial intelligence. In Ahmedabad, the tail section of an Air India flight juts from a building like a paper airplane that sailed in and stuck. And in Portland, Ore., sworn agents of the United States government all but disappear inside red smoke, body armor and gas masks. — Karl Vick


color photograph of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani talks to the press and meets with supporters at a park in Midtown Manhattan, on Oct. 28 2025
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani talks to the press and meets with supporters at a park in Midtown Manhattan, on Oct. 28. Mark Peterson—Redux

Saturday, November 15, 2025

WNYC: Photographer Steve Schapiro Witnessed American History

 Via All Of It with Alison Stewart

WNYC

November 15, 2025



screenshot graphic of black and white photograph of Steve Schapiro running with cameras and text overlay for All Of It with Alison Stewart



 

 Photographer Steve Schapiro was often at the scene. Schapiro photographed historical Civil Rights marches, public figures like Muhammad Ali, David Bowie, and Robert Kennedy, and was also called to photograph films like "Taxi Driver" and "The Godfather." Before Schapiro died in 2022 at the age of 88, he sat down for interviews to reflect on his life and career. The result of those interviews is a new documentary, "Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere".


Several of Schapiro's iconic photographs are featured in the new exhibit "Artists Behind The Art", opening at Monroe Gallery November 28, 2025 and on exhibit through January 25, 2026.

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Gallery Photographer Bing Guan Covers Historic NYC Mayoral Race For Politico

 

"A marathon Election Day in the books for Politico—19ish hours of coverage across three boroughs chasing Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo across the city that never sleeps, fueled by halal cart & an obscene number of coffees." --Bing Guan



New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani addresses supporters after being declared winner of the 2025 New York City mayoral election at his election night watch party at the Brooklyn Paramount in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 4, 2025
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani addresses supporters after being declared winner of the 2025 New York City mayoral election at his election night watch party at the Brooklyn Paramount in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 4, 2025. | Bing Guan for POLITICO

Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayoral race

The democratic socialist vanquished Andrew Cuomo in a contest being closely watched by national Democrats, Republicans and the White House. --click for Politico article with photos

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

In solidarity with of Fall Of Freedom, Monroe Gallery presents a Pop Up exhibit in the Gallery and Online November 18 - 22

Via Fall of Freedom


color photograph of an upside-down American flag hanging from El Capitan near Yosemite National Park’s Horsetail Falls to protest the thousands of federal job cuts made by President Donald Trump’s administration, February 22, 2025
An upside-down American flag hangs from El Capitan near Yosemite National Park’s Horsetail Falls to protest the thousands of federal job cuts made by President Donald Trump’s administration, February 22, 2025


Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the 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.

In solidarity with of Fall Of Freedom, Monroe Gallery presents a Pop Up exhibit in the Gallery and Online November 18 - 22 of photographs documenting people struggling for their freedom; their right to live without fear, their right to speak and the right to protest inequities.

View the exhibition here.

Find an event near you.


color photograph of a young African American boy giving the finger to hooded KKK members hiding behind a fence with a Confederate flag in New jersey, 1990

Nina Berman

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

"The loss to history from the purging of photo morgues is unquantifiable”

Via Columbia Journalism Review

October 28, 2025 


Who’s Going to Save Local Newspaper Archives?

Archivists worry in particular about photographs that have never been digitized

"Frank LoMonte, a University of Georgia law professor who has studied the loss of photo archives from local newspapers, estimates that only a small minority of papers have the financial resources and foresight to proactively safeguard their archives. LoMonte especially worries about unpublished photographs, because they provide an unfiltered perspective on what life was like—and offer a window into how editors at the time chose to portray major news events, and what they chose not to include. “The loss to history from the purging of photo morgues is unquantifiable,” he said. " - click for full article



Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Images from Sanjay Suchak's work documenting the removal of Confederate iconography across the South have been selected to be part of the major new exhibit "Monuments" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA)

 Via MOCA


color poster of the seated statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury from behind  for the MOCA exhibit "Monuments"

The seated statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury from behind 



MONUMENTS

Co-organized and co-presented by MOCA and The Brick, MONUMENTS marks the recent wave of monument removals as a historic moment. The exhibition reflects on the histories and legacies of post-Civil War America as they continue to resonate today, bringing together a selection of decommissioned monuments, many of which are Confederate, with contemporary artworks borrowed and newly created for the occasion. Removed from their original outdoor public context, the monuments in the exhibition will be shown in their varying states of transformation, from unmarred to heavily vandalized.

Co-curated by Hamza Walker, Director of The Brick; Bennett Simpson, Senior Curator at MOCA; and Kara Walker, artist; with Hannah Burstein, Curatorial Associate at The Brick; and Paula Kroll, Curatorial Assistant at MOCA, MONUMENTS considers the ways public monuments have shaped national identity, historical memory, and current events.   

Following the racially motivated mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC (2015) and the deadly 'Unite the Right' rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, VA (2017), alongside Bree Newsome’s powerful removal of the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Statehouse (2015), the United States witnessed the decommissioning of nearly 200 monuments. These removals prompted a national debate that remains ongoing. MONUMENTS aims to historicize these discussions in our current moment and provide a space for crucial discourse and active engagements about challenging topics.  

MONUMENTS features newly commissioned artworks by contemporary artists Bethany Collins, Abigail DeVille, Karon Davis, Stan Douglas, Kahlil Robert Irving, Cauleen Smith, Kevin Jerome Everson, Walter Price, Monument Lab, Davóne Tines and Julie Dash, and Kara Walker. Additional artworks by Leonardo Drew, Torkwase Dyson, Nona Faustine, Jon Henry, Hugh Mangum, Martin Puryear, Andres Serrano, and Hank Willis Thomas, are borrowed from private collectors and institutions. 

The exhibition presents decommissioned monuments borrowed from the City of Baltimore, Maryland; the City of Montgomery, Alabama; The Jefferson School for African American Heritage, Charlottesville, Virginia; the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, Richmond; the Valentine, Richmond, Virginia; and The Daniels Family Charitable Foundation, Raleigh, North Carolina. By juxtaposing these objects with contemporary works, the exhibition expands the context in which they are understood and highlights the gaps and omissions in popular narratives of American history.  

MONUMENTS will be accompanied by a scholarly publication and a robust slate of public and educational programming.

MONUMENTS is co-organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) and The Brick. MONUMENTS is co-curated by Hamza Walker, Director, The Brick; artist Kara Walker; and Bennett Simpson, Senior Curator, MOCA; with Hannah Burstein, Curatorial Associate, The Brick; and Paula Kroll, Assistant Curator, MOCA.

Presenting support is provided by the Mellon Foundation.


Images from Sanjay Suchak's work documenting the removal of Confederate iconography across the South have been selected to be part of the major new exhibit "Monuments" at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA) which is co-curated by The Brick. In addition to being a part of the exhibit, Suchak's photo featuring the seated statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury from behind was selected to be the exhibition poster and the cover of the exhibition catalog book.



NY Times: "The year’s most audacious and contentious new show brings out — after years of wrangling, and with heightened security — nearly a dozen Confederate memorials removed from view in the last decade."

NY Times: Kara Walker Deconstructs a Statue, and a Myth

As part of the group exhibition “Monuments,” the artist took a Stonewall Jackson bronze and transformed it into a radically new, unsettled thing.

The Guardian: Breathtaking, unsettling, healing: how US artist Kara Walker transformed a Confederate monument; The sweeping exhibition Monuments, which features 19 contemporary artists, opens in LA on 23 October


color photograph of A worker stands with downed statue of Stonewall Jackson
A worker stands with downed statue of Stonewall Jackson


Friday, October 17, 2025

Ron Haviv Exhibition Featured At FOTOIST - International Photography Festival - Edition 3

Via Fotoist International Photography Festival

October 17, 2025 


Program – FOTOIST



Exhibition: "A Brief Guide to Investigating War Crimes” by Ron Haviv - VII Foundation / 17.10.2025 / 18:00 / Barabar Centre - Grand 4th Floor 


color photograph of young Darfuri girls against a bleak landscape as they leave a camp for internally displaced persons to gather firewood



Photo: © Ron Haviv – VII Foundation / Young Darfuri girls leave a camp for internally displaced persons to gather firewood. Girls as young as 8 have been raped, attacked and killed trying to get wood. Darfur, Sudan, 2005

Exhibition: “A Brief Guide to Investigating War Crimes” by Ron Haviv

World-Renowned Photojournalist Ron Haviv Presents “A Brief Guide to Investigating War Crimes”

Internationally acclaimed photojournalist and co-founder of the VII Foundation, Ron Haviv, in collaboration with the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), presents the powerful exhibition “A Brief Guide to Investigating War Crimes.”

Curated by Haviv himself, the exhibition draws from the GIJN’s definitive guide for journalists covering war crimes, and features evocative and hard-hitting imagery by members of the prestigious VII Foundation. Through a compelling visual narrative, the exhibition explores the brutal realities of armed conflict, the mechanisms of war crimes, and their long-lasting human and societal impacts.

“A Brief Guide to Investigating War Crimes” underscores the critical role of investigative journalism, human rights advocacy, and legal accountability in uncovering the truth. It stands as both a tribute to courageous reporting and a call to action for justice and transparency in times of war.

RON HAVIV

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.

He is currently co-directing two documentaries, Biography of a Photo and Picasso of Harlem.

Thursday, October 9, 2025

Fragments in Time, a powerful two-person exhibition of work by renowned photojournalists Ashley Gilbertson and Franco Pagetti, opening this fall at Stanley. The exhibition is presented courtesy of Monroe Gallery of Photography.

 

Via Twenty Summers


black and white graphic adverstising Fragments of Time exhibit with information text over a grey NYC stret scene



Twenty Summers is proud to present Fragments in Time, a powerful two-person exhibition of work by renowned photojournalists Ashley Gilbertson and Franco Pagetti, opening this fall at Stanley. The exhibition is presented courtesy of Monroe Gallery of Photography.

First shown at Mad Rose Gallery in Millerton, NY, Fragments in Time brings together two distinct photographic voices in a tightly woven visual conversation that ranges in subject matter from the fashion world to the war torn lands, from refugee camps to New York during the pandemic. Though their assignments in conflict zones have taken them to different places—Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and beyond—Gilbertson’s and Pagetti’s work in this sphere overlaps in theme and sensibility, showing a deep concern for both soldiers’ and civilians’ experience of war, the emotional residue of violence, and the personal, often ambiguous role of the photographer as witness. War is not an event but a state that persists in bodies, landscapes, and memory.

At Stanley, these and other images—intimate, unflinching, and formally rigorous—are installed in close proximity, allowing the viewer to move between scenes of devastation, reflection, solitude, and survival.

Fragments in Time Opening Reception
Friday, October 10, 2025
7:00 PM  9:00 PM
Stanley
494 Commercial Street
Provincetown, MA, 02657


Fragments in Time | Ashley Gilbertson and Ben Brody in Conversation
Join us for an evening of conversation and reflection as photographers Ashley Gilbertson and Ben Brody explore the role of images in shaping memory, documenting conflict, and capturing fleeting moments in time. Presented as part of our new exhibition Fragments in Time, this event invites audiences into a dialogue on storytelling, truth, and the emotional weight of visual history.


Saturday, October 11, 2025
6:00 PM  7:30 PM
Stanley
494 Commercial Street
Provincetown, MA, 02657

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Lowrider images from 'New Mexican' photojournalist Gabriela Campos featured in Smithsonian exhibit

 Via The Santa Fe New Mexican

October 4, 2025


ALBUQUERQUE — Armed with a Sony camera, Gabriela Campos lowered herself to the sidewalk as the candy red ’59 Chevy Impala glided to a standstill on Central Avenue, embarking on a long run of hops and undulations with its hydraulic suspension pulling hard.

The cruise was on, and Campos was out chasing cars on Central again on a recent Sunday, shifting the lens for a shot in the day’s final light. Mesmerizing, chrome hypnotic and upholstery speckless, the vehicles rolled before the Kimo Theatre, cool and defiant street royalty, a Bel Air with an imitation fox tail swinging from the mirror in the urban desert wind.

Late last month was a major career moment for the New Mexican photographer, who has become known in recent years for her intimate photography of lowriders and the culture surrounding them. A collection of Campos’ lowrider work is now on display in Washington, D.C., at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in an exhibit titled Corazón y vida: Lowriding Culture that opened Sept. 26 and will run through October of 2027.

That her images are featuring so prominently on a stage more or less unparalleled in photography and in the arts is a dream come true for Campos, who is Santa Fe born and raised.

The exhibit also carries the work of noted Chicano photographer Estevan Oriol and the actual bodies of two classic Chevy Impalas, “El Rey” and “Gypsy Rose.” The latter is often referred to as the most famous lowrider ever.

Campos is the lone New Mexican featured in the show.

color photograph of a lowrider car "hopping", its front end raised high to the sky

Lowriders compete in a hopping competition during The Albuquerque Super Show in 2023.

Courtesy Gabriela Campos


Her photographs show people living their lives out loud with the portraits of their family members etched on their cars, much love for the scene in their hearts and Zia symbols and Virgin Mary tattoos abounding. They come into focus proud, resolute before the glittering skyline of no-nonsense Albuquerque.

“The joy for me comes from being on the corner of 7th and Central, surrounded by friends and chasing cars,” Campos said. “It’s about the people, the community, hearing the backstory of the cars, where they come from, how far they’ve come.”

Her five photographs in the exhibit include quintessential Norteño scenes. There is a cleansing elegance about the images, the cars dramatizing their surroundings anew. A red convertible cruises in the evening next to a chile stand with portraits of Jesus Christ just outside El Santuario de Chimayó. A silver whip with one wheel in the air wends its way past the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi near the Santa Fe Plaza.

The project was years in the making. Curators for the show reached out to Campos about five years ago, wanting her photos to play a part.

“Walking into the show, I was sort of in disbelief that, after a five-year process, it was real,” said Campos, who recently returned from Washington, D.C. “... I’ve been shooting lowriders for years now, and it’s been such a journey.”

Campos graduated from Santa Fe High School and later attended the University of New Mexico. Campos has become a part of the street scene itself, a mainstay in the hopping pits and around the cruises. Riders pull up to a traffic light on Central, already posing on Campos’ approach.

For Campos, the people are as inspiring as the candy-colored vehicles they pilot. A focus for her has always been female lowriders, depicted in two of her photographs that will be in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.


A red Impala lowrider slowly makes its way past the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi following a Santa Fe lowrider day in 2023

An Impala slowly makes its way past the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi following a Santa Fe lowrider day in 2023

Courtesy Gabriela Campos



“It’s really empowering to see women behind the wheel — working on upholstery, working on pinstriping,” Campos said.

When she sees a car she does not recognize, Campos smiles, shakes her head and marvels at it as she wonders where it has come from — a Belen Impala that does not get out much? It’s enough to make her night.

Her dream car? A ’59 Chevrolet El Camino.

Thursday, October 2, 2025

American photojournalist urges Kurds to honor past while embracing future

 Photojournalist Ed Kashi will be at the Gallery tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 3 for a book signing and conversation with Don Carleton, Executive Director of the Briscoe Center For American History.

Conversation begins at 5:30, book signing follows

Seating is limited RSVP essential

Exhibition continues through November 16, 2025


October 2, 2025


ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An American photojournalist who has documented Kurdish struggles for more than three decades urged Kurds to honor their history while also embracing their cultural identity and future role in the world.

“It’s important to hold on and remember the past, but it’s so important to move forward… not to forget the past, but not to dwell on it,” Ed Kashi told Rudaw earlier this week. 

Kashi said that he first arrived in what is now Kurdistan Region in 1991 during the refugee crisis that followed the Kurdish uprising against Saddam Hussein, which was then brutally suppressed and led to a massive refugee crisis as over a million Kurds fled to the mountains along the Turkish and Iranian borders, fearing renewed genocide. In response, a US-led Coalition launched Operation Provide Comfort to deliver aid and enforce a No-Fly Zone, which led to a de facto safe haven where Kurds began to establish their own autonomous administration in 1992.

“I was with [Kurdistan Democratic Party President Masoud] Barzani and [late Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal] Talabani in the mountains,” he recalled. “They were trying to figure out what to do… reclaiming their authority for good and bad, establishing political structures, economic structures, [and] trying to figure out how to reclaim this land.”

“There is so many reasons now for Kurdish people, especially in Iraq… [where] you actually have a chance to move forward, you know, to teach new generations about your amazing, glorious history and past, and to talk about good things that are happening,” Kashi said

Reflecting on the aftermath of the Anfal campaign in 1988, which killed an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Kurds and destroyed more than 4,000 villages, he said, “I had never seen anything like that before: all the destroyed villages, towns and communities.”

Kashi, who spoke to Rudaw on the sidelines of the inaugural Kurdish Studies Forum at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) on Saturday, echoed an AUIS graduate Lana Salim, who last week, during an episode of Rudaw’s Legel Ranj program, said Kurds should not only look back on tragedy but also celebrate their cultural and artistic contributions. “It is time for us as Kurds… to remind ourselves of the cultural and artistic essence we have, [and] act based on the premise that we should be a player in the world,” she said.

His 1994 book When the Borders Bleed: Struggle of the Kurd, which he published with the late British journalist Christopher Hitchens, had lasting resonance. 

“A Kurd I met in Europe told me that book taught them about their history,” Kashi said. “One of the beautiful things about doing something for so long is when you meet people and realize your work had an impact on their lives.”

“I truly believe if we can change one mind, that is when change begins,” the photojournalist said. “If you can change one young person to maybe become a historian or a Kurdish scholar or a journalist to tell the stories of their own people, that is a beautiful thing.”

Friday, September 26, 2025

Friday, Oct. 3: Gallery Conversation and Book Signing With Ed Kashi






black and white photograph of a person with an umbrella admiring a cloudy view near Machu Picchu.
Ed Kashi: A journey, made in 1999, to some of Peru's most outstanding natural and man-made sights. 
A cloudy view near Machu Picchu.



A new exhibition celebrates Ed Kashi's most recent book, A Period in Time: Looking Back while Moving Forward: 1977–2022, a stunning and expansive retrospective of photographs spanning the world and his prolific career. One of the world's most celebrated photojournalists and filmmakers, Ed Kashi has dedicated the past 45 years to documenting the social and geopolitical issues that define our era.

Book signing and conversation with Ed Kashi and Don Carleton, Executive Director of the Briscoe Center For American History

Friday, October 3 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Conversation begins at 5:30, book signing follows

Seating is limited RSVP essential

Exhibition continues through November 16, 2025



"When I first fell in love with photography, I had a deep desire to tell stories that could have an impact on both individuals and the greater good. I wanted to produce stories that would contribute to positive change in the world. But what’s truly captivating about being a visual storyteller is the privilege to learn about the world and observe individuals who are doing inspiring acts or living through traumatic and trying times."— Ed Kashi



Tuesday, September 16, 2025

Trump Orders National Park to Remove Famed Photograph of Formerly Enslaved Man

 Via ArtNews

September 16, 2025


photograph of a formerly enslaved man baring his scarred back

The Scourged Back, 1863
Photo Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images


Following a threatened crackdown on what he his administration called “corrosive ideology” in American museums, Donald Trump has ordered a national park to remove a famous photograph of a formerly enslaved man baring his scarred back.

The Washington Post, which first reported the news on Monday night, did not specify which park would be impacted by the removal of the photograph and cited anonymous sources. But the article said it was one of “multiple” parks impacted by the orders, which target “signs and exhibits related to slavery at multiple national parks,” per the article.

Taken in 1863, the photograph shows a man who may have been named Peter who escaped a plantation in Louisiana and was subsequently examined by doctors who discovered the web of scars on his back that resulted from repeated, brutal whipping. The image was reprinted widely at the time as proof of the horrors of enslavement that some Americans could not personally witness firsthand. Informally, the picture is known as The Scourged Back.

It remains a key image of its era. Artist Arthur Jafa, for example, has included versions of it in recent installations. The National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Gallery of Art, and many other museum own prints of it.

According to the Washington Post, Trump’s order called for the removal of information and signage at the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in West Virginia. The President’s House Site in Philadelphia may also be impacted, staffers told the Post.

In March, in an executive order that targeted Smithsonian-run museums, Trump singled out Independence National Historical Park, whose displays, he claimed, put forward the notion that “America is purportedly racist.”

A Parks Service spokesperson confirmed to the Post that exhibits under the organization’s aegis were under review, saying, “Interpretive materials that disproportionately emphasize negative aspects of U.S. history or historical figures, without acknowledging broader context or national progress, can unintentionally distort understanding rather than enrich it.”

It is not the first time Trump’s administration has gone after displays related to enslavement. In August, Trump claimed that the Smithsonian’s museums emphasize “how bad Slavery was,” a further sign that they were “OUT OF CONTROL.”