Monroe Gallery of Photography specializes in 20th- and 21st-century photojournalism and humanist imagery—images that are embedded in our collective consciousness and which form a shared visual heritage for human society. They set social and political changes in motion, transforming the way we live and think—in a shared medium that is a singular intersectionality of art and journalism.
— Sidney and Michelle Monroe
In a Turkish terrorist court in Diyarbakir, this Kurdish woman was sentenced to 13 years in prison, accused of belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which seeks to create an independent state in southeastern Turkey, 2006
Even people who don’t know Ed Kashi’s name are often familiar with his photographs. Over the course of his nearly 50-year career, the award-winning photojournalist has created memorable long-form photo-essays for National Geographic, and his work has been published in Time, Newsweek and The New York Times. The World Photography Organisation has called him “one of the leading and most innovative photojournalists of our time.” Kashi’s current, career-spanning exhibition at Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe, “Ed Kashi: A Period in Time,” is also the title of his most recent book. The exhibition runs through Nov. 16.
Known for documenting some of the world’s most challenging social and geopolitical issues, Kashi’s subjects have ranged from Protestants in Northern Ireland during the time of the Troubles to oil workers in the Niger Delta to America’s rapidly aging population.
Ed Kashi
A worker subcontracted by Shell Oil Company cleans up an oil spill from a well owned by Shell that had been left abandoned for over 25 years, 2004
“One of the many reasons that I feel so fortunate that I’ve been able to have a long career in this field is that I get to really go deep with issues and subjects that I come to truly care about and that I think that are important,” Kashi said.
One thing that sets Kashi apart from more events-driven news photographers is the length of time he spends with his subjects. He often embeds himself with the groups he’s documenting for months on end, returning year after year for decades-long projects.
“I often say I’m as much of an anthropologist as I am a journalist,” Kashi said. “While many of my projects have a journalistic edge, or they’re topical — like oil in Nigeria or Jewish settlers in the West Bank — I’m not a great news photographer, and frankly, I don’t like working in situations where there’s a lot of other media around. It always feels intrusive to me, and it makes me uncomfortable.
“I much prefer to work where my subjects, or collaborators, as I like to call them, are my own, and I’m able to develop a direct relationship,” he said.
One of Kashi’s longest-running photojournalism projects centered on the Kurdish diaspora. He began photographing the Kurds for National Geographic in 1991 — his first major project for the magazine — and kept returning to the subject for the next three decades.
“It was something I really cared about, and I was given this tremendous support that only National Geographic could give, where I went to eight countries — not only in the Middle East, but in the Kurdish diaspora in Germany and the U.K. — and I was really able to spend time to tell a very deep story about what was the largest ethnic group in the world without a nation of their own,” Kashi said. “The Kurds have the geopolitical misfortune of being in what is now Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, mainly, so not the friendliest places for a minority group.”
“I think I got in because I was following a Kurdish human rights lawyer, so I sort of traipsed into the courtroom with him and made a few pictures. And that ended up being a very significant image,” Kashi said. “But after that image appeared in the magazine, they (the Turkish government) confiscated all the copies of (that) 1992 issue of National Geographic within Turkey.”
Despite the attempted censorship, that image, and others from the series, reached a wide international audience. Kashi credits those images with bringing much greater attention to the persecution of the Kurds, a subject that had previously gone underreported.
The Turkish government, meanwhile, grew increasingly restrictive on press freedom. Government repression is an ever-present challenge for photojournalists around the world, Kashi said, and something he has contended with many times.
“For journalists, and particularly for photographers, there is a constant battle of how much can we get away with. How close can we get? What can we access? And when that gets shut down, we have to find other ways to gain access,” he said.
The global landscape for press freedom has gotten significantly worse in recent years, according to Kashi, with widespread and concerted attacks on journalists that he calls “unprecedented.”
“Look at our own Pentagon and the restrictions they’re trying to place on the media,” Kashi said. “It’s a very interesting and tricky moment right now for the media in general, all around the world. There’s been an increase in journalists being arrested, imprisoned and in some cases killed, particularly in Gaza.”
Although Kashi said he has sometimes risked his life for stories, he was never deliberately targeted, the way he said some journalists are currently being targeted and killed in places such as Gaza and Ukraine.
“I’ve not worked in Ukraine, but a colleague of mine, who works a lot with the New York Times as a photographer, was just saying, the scariest thing is when you’re driving down a highway and you hear a drone overhead. It’s not even about (accidentally being hit by) missiles or bombardment from planes or artillery. It’s that a drone can take your car out because they suspect you of being the enemy, or they just want to,” Kashi said. “They know you’re a journalist. They wanted to target you.”
Despite the dangers, photojournalists continue doing their jobs, Kashi said, because they know it can change people’s hearts and minds. Kashi has seen the far-reaching impact his own work has had, and he hopes it will inspire others.
“If you tell good stories, and you tell them in an authentic and sincere way, you can reach people. You can penetrate their consciousness,” Kashi said. “And whether they donate money, or they get involved through their actions, or, at the very least, you might change their mind about something. That’s the reason we must do this work.”
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.
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 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.
Anna Boyiazis (USA) documents this low-tide scene of seaweed farmers tending to their underwater farm on the Zanzibar coast.
Seaweed farmers Maua Mkubwa (standing) and Maua Mdogo nurture their undersea garden in the Indian Ocean off Paje, Zanzibar, within the Menai Bay Conservation Area, the archipelago’s largest marine-protected area. As members of the women-led, community-based Mwani (Swahili for seaweed) Zanzibar co-operative, they sustainably harvest a red alga in the genus Eucheuma, known as eucheumatoid seaweeds. These are used to create handmade skincare for international markets.
This recent initiative is empowering local women and improving the livelihoods of families traditionally reliant on fishing — now facing depleted stocks due to climate change, overfishing and destructive practices. Seaweed cultivation also has environmental benefits: the fronds absorb carbon dioxide in photosynthesis and take up nitrogen and phosphorus, and act as a water purifier by reducing acidification and removing some pollutants. All this, while providing precious habitat for marine life.
Anna is a documentary photographer based between Southern California, USA, and East Africa. Her areas of focus include conservation, human rights, public health and women and girls’ issues. Her ongoing project Finding Freedom in the Water, which was first published by National Geographic, documents women and girls in Zanzibar learning to swim – an act of emancipation. Anna is a contributing photographer for GEO, National Geographic and The New York Times Magazine. She has an MFA from the Yale School of Art and a BA from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.
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 | 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.
Ed Kashi is a renowned photojournalist, filmmaker, speaker and educator who has been making images and telling stories for 40 years. His restless creativity has continually placed him at the forefront of new approaches to visual storytelling. Dedicated to documenting the social and political issues that define our times, a sensitive eye and an intimate and compassionate relationship to his subjects are signatures of his intense and unsparing work. As a member of VII Photo, Kashi has been recognized for his complex imagery and its compelling rendering of the human condition. "A Period In Time" is now on exhibit at Monroe Gallery of Photography
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
"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
At the rally on Sunday, people sign the same trans pride flag that Joslin and others helped hang on El Cap earlier this year. | Source:Tracy Barbutes for The Standard
Protesters rally in Yosemite for ranger fired over hanging trans pride flag
The Yosemite community has been reeling since Shannon "SJ" Joslin’s firing. --Click to read full article
A transgender pride flag was unfurled by Shannon Joslin and other demonstrators on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Calif., in May.Credit...Tracy Barbutes, via Reuters
Yosemite Biologist Who Hung Trans Pride Flag From El Capitan Is Fired
On February 22, 2025 – almost exactly 80 years to the day afterJoe Rosenthal’s Iwo Jima Photograph- Tracy Barbutes photographed an inverted American flag — historically used as a sign of distress — off the side of El Capitan, a towering rock formation in Yosemite National Park, hung to protest the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Park Service.
"A Period in Time by Ed Kashi” arrives less as a conventional retrospective and more as a living dossier: over 200 photographs spanning 1977–2022, paired with essays and field dispatches that place the photographer’s eye directly within history. Published by the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the book consolidates a career-long commitment to bearing witness — a clear reminder that archives and books can do more than preserve images; they can teach, provoke, and inspire future photo storytellers.
Save the Date: October 3, 2025 Ed Kashi A Period in Time Gallery talk and book signing 5-7 pm at Monroe Gallery of Photography. Exhibit continues through November 16, 2025.
Independent photojournalist Nate Gowdy was assaulted and detained by police while documenting a protest against immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles, California, on August 8, 2025.
Protests in LA began in early June in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas in and around the city where immigrant day laborers gather, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. Raids at Home Depots in early August took place seemingly in defiance of a July 11 court order temporarily prohibiting federal agents from using discriminatory profiling.
On Aug. 8, two days after an immigration raid in the parking lot of a Home Depot in LA’s Westlake neighborhood, protesters gathered at the store and marched to the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown. The demonstrators and the journalists covering them encountered a violent response from Los Angeles Police Department officers, violating a court order protecting the press from arrest, assault or other interference.
Gowdy, who was visiting from Seattle, Washington, said he had been photographing the Aug. 8 protest with his partner, fellow journalist Carrie Schreck. The two began documenting the demonstration as protesters started to march. The protest remained peaceful, Gowdy said, until the LAPD arrived.
“They basically lined up and without any provocation, in order to move people, started just swinging their batons indiscriminately,” he told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Gowdy watched as one journalist, Nick Stern, waving his press badge to officers, was struck in the face with a police baton. Gowdy himself was thrown to the ground by several officers, scraping his elbow and damaging the metal connectors on the strap holding his spare camera lenses.
“They were so aggressive and wild-eyed and violent,” he said of the LAPD.
After police declared the protest an unlawful assembly, officers pushed demonstrators farther from the detention center. Gowdy and Schreck had stopped photographing and were leaving the area when they were suddenly kettled, or herded by police, along with a handful of journalists and demonstrators, just three blocks from Schreck’s apartment.
Some had press credentials, but Gowdy said officers ignored them.
“They said they didn’t care, and that everyone should have to line up against the wall,” Gowdy recalled.
The journalists’ hands were placed in zip-tie restraints. While some were released, Gowdy and Schreck remained detained for not having physical press badges. Despite carrying camera gear and being vouched for by their colleagues, the officers questioned their legitimacy and denied their requests to speak with a public information officer.
Gowdy offered to show digital credentials and suggested a quick online search to verify his work with major news outlets, but was told he’d be cited for failure to disperse. He and Schreck were taken to a nearby police station and eventually released after more than two hours in custody.
Gowdy said such traumatic encounters can discourage journalists from covering protests.
“In this case, the law was on our side,” he said. “But they didn’t seem to know the law, or they willfully disregarded it in order to intimidate and harass us.”
Gowdy said he doesn’t wear a press badge when he covers protests in Seattle, after it made him a police target. Covering the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, he saw how press credentials can also attract threats from demonstrators. Still, he said this incident convinced him to carry one just in case.
The LAPD did not respond to a Tracker request for comment about the detained journalists. In a statement posted to the social platform X, the department’s Central Division wrote that an unlawful assembly was declared “due to the aggressive nature of a few demonstrators.”
“The protest went into the late night hours with people refusing to disperse,” it continued. “Central Division will continue to support 1st Amendment rights of all people. However, if violence or criminal activity occurs, laws will be enforced.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to tips@pressfreedomtracker.us.
From October 25, 2025 to February 8, 2026, the frescoed halls of the Chiostri di San Pietro in Reggio Emilia will host Margaret Bourke-White. The Work 1930-1960, a retrospective exhibition dedicated to Margaret Bourke-White (New York, 1904 - Stamford, 1971), one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century photography. The initiative is promoted by the Fondazione Palazzo Magnani in collaboration with CAMERA - Italian Center for Photography, and curated by Monica Poggi. The exhibition presents 150 images spanning three decades of the author’s activity, including industrial reportage, war scenarios, social transformations and geopolitical conflicts. Born in New York in 1904 and passed away in 1971, Bourke-White was able to build an international career distinguished by her ability to deal with extreme contexts, both in terms of logistical difficulties and political implications, establishing herself as a direct witness to the events that marked the century. The exhibition is divided into six sections, following a chronological and thematic criterion, including industrial reportage, conflict and major social transformations. Click to read full article
Related Exhibition and Launch Event: Monroe Gallery of Photography “A Period In Time” On View: October 3 – 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
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. His newest book, A Period in Time: Looking Back while Moving Forward: 1977–2022, is a stunning and expansive retrospective of photographs spanning the world and his prolific career. Over 200 images collected in this book reflect his commitment to bear witness. Essays and contextual writings combine with the photographs to provide a personal, in-depth look at significant historical events.
No single book could possibly capture and sum up the entirety of a career as rich in scope and breadth as Kashi's, and that is not what this book sets out to accomplish. Rather, this moving retrospective highlights the essence of Kashi's belief about the unique power of photography to see, record, and share both the overt and the subtle details of the human experience. His work covers dramatic global events, while also accentuating the less visible background moments that often go unnoticed.
In his Introduction, Kashi reflects, ''Photography is a kind of diplomatic passport to worlds unseen, unveiling issues that need illumination, documenting history in the making, and capturing the human experience and the many awe-inspiring places in our fragile world. I’ve witnessed too many powerful moments to recount them all. This book is a testimony to some of the most important stories I was motivated to pursue and dedicate myself to. My life has been shaped by these stories, the people I had the privilege to observe and learn from, and the places and narratives that have shaped who I’ve become.''
The book includes both color and black and white images and is divided into sections by timeline and project. The book opens in 1977 where Kashi's career in photography began. After almost a decade of magazine assignments, he undertook his first long-term documentary project in 1988 exploring the Protestant community in Northern Ireland. This photographic work would lead to his illustrious tenure with National Geographic.
From 1991-2005 Kashi documented the struggles and perseverance of the Kurdish people, the largest ethnic group in the world without a nation. From the impacts of World War I to the Gulf War to the genocide of Saddam Hussein, Kashi writes, For anyone who encounters the Kurds, it is impossible to remain silent. These photographs are a tribute to the strength and dignity of the Kurdish people.
The book also includes sections with images from Berlin, Ukraine, Cairo, Vietnam, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Iraq, the Niger Delta, India, and Nicaragua, among others. A section on the Middle East spans 1991-2008 and connects to his heritage. His parents were born in Baghdad, Iraq, and immigrated to the United States in 1940. Kashi shares, ''My work and travels in the Middle East finally opened my eyes and heart to my familial origins, not the assimilated reality of a first-generation American.'' Kashi has photographed in 12 of the 22 countries in this region.
Kashi has also worked domestically, notably on an eight-year project with his wife chronicling what it means to age in America. This body of work challenges assumptions, while also looking honestly and compassionately at the inherent hardships of growing old.
A distinguishing element to this book is what is learned about the artist behind the photographs. Kashi offers us an intimate view into the personal effects and impressions of being in the field. He also shares deep insights into the relationship with his wife Julie Winokur, through Dispatches or emails, he exchanged with her while away on assignment. These dispatches are interspersed throughout the book providing a personal voice that reveals authentic, raw glimpses into the situations he witnessed and challenges he experienced.
The book is being published by the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, also the home of Kashi’s expansive archive. Don Carleton, the center's executive director, wrote the book's Preface, which highlights the importance of such a collection: “An archive of photographic images can have the potential of being not merely a stagnant repository, but a dynamic way for images from the past to bear witness. Such an archive provides us with opportunities to look deeper at the world around us—as it has been, as it is now, and how it might be in the future.
As Carleton notes, the information preserved on film and in the accompanying words and ephemera not only serves as evidence, but also as context for understanding history, people, and events. One of the primary missions of the Briscoe Center is to collect the work of outstanding photojournalists and documentary photographers because their images can be rich sources of visual historical evidence that can be read and interpreted in the same way as textual documents. If critically analyzed and evaluated, that characteristic can allow them to serve as important sources for research and teaching.
This retrospective book is a slice of Kashi's extensive archive, but the thoughtfulness in which the images and writings were compiled, results in a powerful overview. In Kashi’s own words, his archive is a growing, thriving, and continually evolving organism that has become a living library with profound value.Kashi’s work celebrates the strength, courage and resilience in the people he has witnessed. This book also acknowledges the toll this work has taken on him.
The book concludes with a reflective essay entitled 'Home,' where Kashi divulges a sense of isolation that comes from constantly traveling. He describes a life lived in between either home or a far-flung corner of the globe. Home, in the trusted definition of the word, is an anchor, a compass point, and for Kashi, that place is wherever his wife and kids are.
About the Artist: Ed Kashi is a renowned photojournalist, filmmaker, speaker and educator who has been making images and telling stories for over 40 years. His restless creativity has continually placed him at the forefront of new approaches to visual storytelling. Dedicated to documenting the social and political issues that define our times, a sensitive eye and an intimate and compassionate relationship to his subjects are signatures of his intense and unsparing work. As a member of VII Photo, Kashi has been recognized for his complex imagery and its compelling rendering of the human condition. Kashi’s innovative approach to photography and filmmaking has produced a number of influential short films and earned recognition by the POYi Awards as 2015’s Multimedia Photographer of the Year. Kashi’s embrace of technology has led to creative social media projects for clients including National Geographic, The New Yorker, and MSNBC. From implementing a unique approach to photography and filmmaking in his 2006 Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook, to paradigm shifting coverage of Hurricane Sandy for TIME in 2012, Kashi continues to create compelling imagery and engage with the world in new ways. Along with numerous awards from World Press Photo, POYi, CommArts and American Photography, Kashi’s images have been published and exhibited worldwide. His editorial assignments and personal projects have generated fourteen books. In 2002, Kashi in partnership with his wife, writer + filmmaker Julie Winokur, founded Talking Eyes Media. The non-profit company has produced numerous award-winning short films, exhibits, books, and multimedia pieces that explore significant social issues. Kashi is represented by Monroe Gallery, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
About the Contributor: Dr. Don Carleton is the founding executive director of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and the J. R. Parten Chair in the Archives of American History at The University of Texas at Austin. A specialist in American political and news media history, he is the author of 14 books, including Red Scare; Conversations with Cronkite; Struggle for Justice: Four Decades of Civil Rights Photography; and The Governor and the Colonel: A Dual Biography of William P. Hobby and Oveta Culp Hobby. He is also the executive producer of two PBS documentaries: When I Rise (2010) and Cactus Jack: Lone Star on Capitol Hill (2016). Prior to the creation of the Briscoe Center, he served as founding director of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC), an urban history archive. A native of Dallas, Texas, Carleton earned his doctorate in United States at the University of Houston. don-carleton
About the Publisher: As one of the leading history research centers in the nation, the Briscoe Center for American History collects, preserves, and makes available archival evidence that encompasses key themes in US history. The center fosters public exploration of history through research services, exhibits, books, public programs and digital humanities projects inspired by archival holdings. From its inception, the center has collected photography that provides evidence of the people, places, and events of American history. Recognizing the importance of photography for historical research and interpretation, in the early 1990s the center began extensive efforts to collect the archives of major American photojournalists. Those efforts soon expanded to include documentary and commercial photography, resulting in a collection that now contains more than 10 million images and spans from 1849 to the present. briscoecenter.org
About the Distributor: The University of Texas Press is a book and journal publisher—a focal point where the life experiences, insights, and specialized knowledge of writers converge to be disseminated in both print and digital formats. Established in 1950, UT Press has published more than 4,000 books over seven decades. utpress.utexas.edu
Related Exhibition and Launch Event: Monroe Gallery of Photography “A Period In Time” On View: October 3 – November 16, 2025 Opening with Ed Kashi: October 3, 5-7pm Ed Kashi in conversation with Don Carleton at 5:30pm More Information about the Exhibition
An unflinching conversation with award-winning photojournalist and writer Ashley Gilbertson, who has spent over two decades documenting conflict, migration, and pivotal moments that shape our world. From the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan to the halls of the US Capitol on January 6th, Ashley brings us face-to-face with uncomfortable truths through his lens.
In this deeply personal conversation, Ashley shares the magic that drew him to photography at 13, the weight of witnessing history, and why he believes documenting difficult stories is more crucial than ever. We explore his groundbreaking work, his evolution as a storyteller, and what it means to find courage in the darkest places.
Content Warning: This episode discusses war, conflict, domestic terrorism, and loss. Listener discretion is advised.
"The harder the work is, the better the work will be. When you get really deep into it and you want to stop, that is exactly the moment that you have to try twice as hard." -Ashley Gilbertson
Ed Kashi and Julie Winokur: American Sketches: People of a Place at This Time
Nina Berman, Photographer & Professor of Journalism, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Richard Sharum, Spina America
Dudley Brooks, Moderator
In 2025, America finds itself in a very confused and divided place. 250 years ago, it embarked on the greatest experiment in human history to overthrow the old norms of monarchies and despotic rule. America thrived, evolved, and conflicted during those two-and-a-half centuries.
Today, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address penned 161 years ago is more relevant than at any other time since it was first spoken.
Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
Today we are testing whether this nation can long endure. The photographers in this panel will present to us a heartfelt and critical view of what America looks and feels like today.
Dudley Brooks
Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Dudley M. Brooks was the Deputy Director of Photography for The Washington Post, where he managed the creative strategy and production of photo-oriented content for the Features, Local and Sports departments. He was also the Photo Editor for The Washington Post Magazine before it was discontinued in 2022. From 2007-2014 he was the Director of Photography and Senior Photo Editor for the monthly magazine Ebony and its weekly sister periodical Jet. These iconic publications chronicled the African American experience for nearly eight decades and Brooks was a key member of the senior staff responsible for redefining the visual prominence and editorial relevance to their international readerships. Brooks was also the Assistant Managing Editor of Photography at The Baltimore Sun newspaper (2005-2007) and the co-creator/director of the landmark 1990 photography book and exhibition Songs of My People: African Americans – A Self-Portrait. This was an international project sponsored by Time-Warner and the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). In 2003 he created and co-directed Imagenes Havana. This event was a five-day exhibition in Havana, Cuba that displayed the work of twenty-five international storytelling photographers. It was supplemented by three days of roundtable forums that addressed the difficulties of documenting the international community, opportunities in photo book publishing, and ethical issues facing the working photographer from a global perspective. Brooks retired from The Washington Post in late 2024.
Nina Berman
Nina Berman is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, journalist and educator. Her work explores American politics, militarism, environmental issues and post violence trauma. She is the author of Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq, (Trolley, 2004) portraits and interviews with wounded American veterans, Homeland, (Trolley, 2008) an examination of the militarization of American life post September 11, and An autobiography of Miss Wish (Kehrer, 2017) a story told with a survivor of sexual violence which was shortlisted for both the Aperture and Arles book prizes. Additional fellowships, awards and grants include: the World Press Photo Foundation, Pictures of the Year International, the Open Society Foundation, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the Aftermath Project. She started her photographic career in 1988 as an independent photographer working on assignment for the world’s major magazines including Time, Newsweek, Life, the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, German Geo, and the Sunday Times Magazine. Her work has been exhibited at more than 100 international. Public collections include the Smithsonian National Museum of American History; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of the City of New York; the Harvard Art Museums; and the Bibliothèque nationale de France among others. She is a tenured Professor of Journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she directs the photojournalism/documentary photography program.
Ed Kashi
Ed Kashi is a renowned photojournalist, filmmaker, speaker and educator who has been making images and telling stories for 40 years. His restless creativity has continually placed him at the forefront of new approaches to visual storytelling. Dedicated to documenting the social and political issues that define our times, a sensitive eye and an intimate and compassionate relationship to his subjects are signatures of his intense and unsparing work. As a member of VII Photo, Kashi has been recognized for his complex imagery and its compelling rendering of the human condition.
Kashi’s innovative approach to photography and filmmaking has produced a number of influential short films and earned recognition by the POYi Awards as 2015’s Multimedia Photographer of the Year. Kashi’s embrace of technology has led to creative social media projects for clients including National Geographic, The New Yorker, and MSNBC. From implementing a unique approach to photography and filmmaking in his 2006 Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook, to paradigm shifting coverage of Hurricane Sandy for TIME in 2012, Kashi continues to create compelling imagery and engage with the world in new ways.
Along with numerous awards from World Press Photo, POYi, CommArts and American Photography, Kashi’s images have been published and exhibited worldwide. His editorial assignments and personal projects have generated fourteen books.
Richard Sharum
Richard Sharum is an editorial and documentary photographer based in upstate New York. Mainly focusing on socio-economic or social justice dilemmas concerning the human condition, his work has been regarded as in-depth, up-close and personal.
Selected exhibitions include Kyoto, Japan; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Reggio Emilia, Italy; New York, Boston, Chicago’ and Dallas. His work is in the permanent collection of the Witliff Center for Documentary Studies, Amon Carter Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, and others.
Commissions include The Meadows Foundation, Centers for Community Cooperation, Harvard Law School, Student Conservation Association, Children's Medical Center (Oncology), Children's Cancer Fund.
Publications include those by LFI (Leica International), British Journal of Photography, LensCulture, The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Publico (Portugal), El Pais (Spain), Observer (UK), The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian (UK), B+W Photo Magazine, Huck Magazine, Glasstire, PATRON, Creative Review, among others.
Richard Sharum's debut monograph Campesino Cuba was published in 2021 (GOST) and his latest, Spina Americana, was just released in November 2024 (GOST). Richard Sharum is represented by The Hulett Collection, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Julie Winokur
Executive Director, Talking Eyes Media
Julie WinokurJulie Winokur, Executive Director of Talking Eyes Media, has been a storyteller for over two decades, first as a magazine writer and then as a documentary filmmaker. She launched Talking Eyes Media in 2002 as a way to create visual media that catalyzes positive social change. Her work has appeared on PBS, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, and National Geographic. Beyond broadcast and publication, Winokur works extensively with nonprofit organizations to develop their messages and put Talking Eyes' films to work at the grassroots level. She is the co-founder of Newest Americans, a storytelling project about immigration and identity based in Newark, New Jersey, that was named Best Online Storytelling Project in 2020 by Pictures of the Year International. She is also the producer/director of The Sacrifice Zone and Bring It to The Table, both documentary films with extensive impact campaigns. Winokur is a National Geographic Explorer and has been on the faculty of Rutgers University-Newark and the International Center of Photography in New York.
Gabriela Campos, born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a photojournalist who documents the people and traditions of the Southwest. She’s on staff at the Santa Fe New Mexican, and her work is held in several collections and has been published widely.
On this episode of “10 Frames Per Second” we delve into the world of photojournalism through the lens of Ron Haviv, a renowned photojournalist and co-founder of the VII Agency. In this episode Haviv shared his journey, experiences, and his thoughts on the evolving landscape of photojournalism.
Ron Haviv’s entry into photojournalism wasn’t a childhood dream but rather a journey of discovery during his university years. Influenced by hobbyist photographers in his life and a job with a fashion photographer, Haviv found himself drawn to the world of photography. His career took off with a chance encounter and a generous offer from fellow photojournalist Chris Morris, leading to his first international assignment in Panama.
The Impact of Photojournalism
Haviv’s work has had significant impacts, both positive and challenging: Panama: His photographs from Panama were used by President George H.W. Bush as part of the justification for the U.S. invasion, highlighting the power of images in political discourse. Bosnia: Despite capturing evidence of atrocities, his photographs were initially ignored, underscoring the limitations of photojournalism in effecting immediate change.
The Role of Photo Agencies
Haviv co-founded the VII Agency to give photographers more control over their work and careers. The agency, which emerged at the dawn of the digital age, has adapted to the changing landscape of photojournalism by focusing on embracing digital technology to streamline operations. His non-profit initative, the VII Foundation, helps support long form journalism projects while providing a free education in visual journalism.
The Importance of Education and Mentorship
Haviv emphasizes the critical role of education in photojournalism. With the democratization of photography, it’s essential to train photographers in storytelling and business. This is so that they can tell great stories with their work and draw in clients that will be willing to pay for their pictures and services.
The Lost Rolls Project
One of Haviv’s notable projects is “The Lost Rolls,” a book and public archive exploring memory and photography. This project involved developing forgotten rolls of film, leading to deep reflection on the stories that were captured and what memories would have been attached to them. Now Haviv is encouraging the public to take part in the project by contributing their own lost rolls and stories.
Ron Haviv’s journey and insights offer a profound look into the world of photojournalism. From the power of images to influence political decisions to the challenges of ensuring their impact, Haviv’s experiences highlight the complexities and responsibilities of being a photojournalist. As the industry continues to evolve, education, mentorship, and innovative projects like “The Lost Rolls” remain vital in preserving the integrity and impact of photojournalism.
“It’s one thing to see a picture,” Dr. Garcia said, looking at a video he shot on his phone. “To see it when we were there, it just opens your eyes,” he added. Every imaginable use for plastic — takeout containers, bleach bottles, cigarettes, plastic bags and even lab equipment — seemed to be represented on that beach and in the ocean that stretched beyond it. And every day, it was breaking down, getting smaller and smaller.
Santa Fe, NM - Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce exclusive representation of photographer Bing Guan for fine art print sales.
Guan is a Chinese American full-time freelance photographer, journalist, and artist based in New York City. He is currently an adjunct professor of photography at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Born in Australia and raised in the United States, Bing attended Dartmouth College and holds a BA cum laude in history from Columbia University. He has reported from across the U.S., and from places including Antigua, Burma, Mexico, Rwanda, and Hong Kong.
Bing is a regular contributor to Reuters, Bloomberg, and The New York Times. He has been awarded grants from the Parsons School of Design, the Ucross Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
Bing speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese, and is certified in HEFAT and as a FAA Part 107 drone pilot.
Monroe Gallery will exhibit examples of Guan’s work at the 2025 Photography Show presented by AIPAD in booth #C8, April 23 – 27 at The Park Avenue Armory in New York City.
