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

 SPECIAL INDIAN MARKET EXHIBIT

Eugene Tapahe: ART HEALS

The Jingle Dress Project and Standing Rock Movement

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce a new exhibit and special reception on Thursday, August 13 from 5-7 pm during the renowned Santa Fe Indian Market weekend, the world’s largest and most prestigious Indigenous art market, now in its 104rd year.

Diné (Navajo) artist Eugene Tapahe will present an artist talk on the 10th anniversary of the Standing Rock movement for the opening of his new exhibition featuring photographs from the 2016 Standing Rock movement and his photography series titled Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project. The exhibition continues through November 1, 2026. 

The unity and resilience of native ceremony, traditional storytelling, and the healing power of the jingle dress have connected these two historical events. Tapahe will share his insights and the dream which brought healing through his art.

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

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

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

Years later, Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project originated from a dream Tapahe had during the COVID-19 pandemic, inspiring him to unite the land and people through the healing power of the Ojibwe jingle dress dance. 

Nizhoni (Beautiful), Monument Valley, Arizona, 2020

Since then, Tapahe has traveled thousands of miles documenting family members and friends dancing the healing honor dance in National Parks and Monuments, honoring the places where their ancestors once lived. Tapahe describes the images as “incredibly powerful and spiritual. Looking at them, I still can't believe I took these photographs. I believe this project is larger than myself, and I hope that when people view them, they feel the same way – that we are all blessed to be in the presence of such beauty.” 

The images have raised awareness of many Native American issues, such as land acknowledgment, women’s rights, and, most importantly, the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).  

During the project, Tapahe discovered one overarching metaphor. “I put my hand on one of the jingles and I shook it. That one jingle didn’t make any sound,” he said. “But together, they have the power to heal. As human beings, if we are able to unite ourselves and our prayers and make a beautiful sound as the jingle dress does, we could be powerful.” 

View the exhibition here

David Butow: 250 Years USA. A Country in Contradiction

 Via laif

David Butow

January 6, 2021, Washington, DC. Supporters of President Trump battle law enforcement on the West steps of The Capitol during the attack on the day of Joe Biden’s election certification by Congress.

2026 brings two dates that are hard to ignore: 250 years USA. And Donald Trump turns 80 – in the middle of his second term.

What do these anniversaries mean? What do they say about the state of this country? We asked selected photographers from our partner agency Redux.

In the second part of our series, photojournalist David Butow talks about his work and his perspective on the USA.

David, is there a photo you have taken that you feel best represents the United States — either at this moment or at another point in time?

You can’t sum up a country of 350 million people in one photograph, but I’ll choose one that speaks to our politics right now. On January 6, 2021, I was at the U.S. Capitol when a mob of thousands of Trump supporters broke through police lines and into the Capitol to try to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden as the next president. It was Americans fighting against each other over one of the most important things the government does.

And this fight was set up by the sitting president who had engaged in lies to rile up his supporters and help him stay in power. That was the first time that had happened in 250 years. I think, and hope, it will be most significant event in U.S. history that I’ll ever see. Trump left the White House couple of weeks later with his tail behind his legs but of course now he’s president again. This dynamic speaks to widespread distrust in our government and other institutions.

Given the flood of synthetic images, disinformation, and fake news across the internet, how do you view the role and importance of photojournalism and the media?

"The media" is now such a broad term. It can mean big organizations like the New York Times and CNN, or it can be one person with a YouTube channel and millions of followers. I heard a commentator say recently that when it comes to information, much of the public is both cynical and gullible at the same time. That’s a bad combination!

People not only believe stuff that’s fake, they will not believe things that are real. The hope I have is that there will always be some news organizations that will have high standards for truth, for rooting out fakery in images and information and that those standards will be known to their audience who will subscribe and support them.

In other words, that there will always be a place to turn when you need some reality. I fear that traditional, solid media outlets will continue to be a smaller and smaller portion of how people get their information. That’s already happening. However, I am buoyed by the fact that thirty years after easy desktop computer Photoshop-style image manipulation, the wire services and most big, good newspapers and magazines have maintained fairly tight ethnical standards when it comes to the making and content of images.

What do you think Americans can be proud of?

Despite all the problems facing the U.S., there are still things about this country that work very well. While there is a lot of tribal and closed-minded thinking, those ideas often get outsized attention in the current media environment. In reality, I think most Americans are quite progressive when it comes to things like gay rights, ethnic diversity, and religious freedoms. We have the Americans with Disabilities Act which helps to make public spaces easier for people in wheelchairs.

I’ll give you couple of other recent examples. There was a small group of Buddhist monks that recently did a "walk for peace" through the deep South, a Trumpy part of the country known as the »Bible Belt.« Thousands of people came out to cheer them on and they had the support of the local governments and police.

Today, I’m seeing news coverage of long lines at airports because of budget disagreements within the Federal Government. Despite our differences and political conflicts, people are calm and not getting into fights. Most Americans are pretty chill and tolerant. Also, when it comes to technological and scientific advancement, obviously, that’s one of our strengths.

What is "typically American" about you?

[…] My mother’s side of the family came to America from England in the 1700’s before there even was a U.S.A. They were Protestant Christians. My father’s parents were immigrants from Russia and Latvia in the early 20th century and they were fleeing persecutions against Jews and were part of the massive wave of immigration at that time as the U.S. was modernizing rapidly and there was economic opportunity and religious freedom. I was born in New York City, grew up in Texas and now live in California. So I feel very lucky to have all this diversity in my background and experience. -full article here

Thank you for your time, David.

David Butow's photographs are featured in the exhibition "America The Beautiful" through August 9, 2026 

On July 2, 2026 Monroe Gallery hosted a Gallery talk with independent photojournalist Ryan Vizzions.

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

In late 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Vizzions embarked on a long term, multi-year project traveling and photographing across the United States to create a photography book documenting all 50 states. 

In January, 2026 Vizzions documented "Operation Metro Surge" by ICE in Minneapolis involving roughly 3,000 federal agents, leading to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti. His photograph of a masked ICE agent appeared as a full-page spread in the Sunday Opinion page of the February 1, 2026 issue of The New York Times. He has contributed considerable time to photographing and archiving the street memorial of Renee Good.

New Exhibit At Griffin Museum Includes Ashley Gilbertson and Mark Peterson

Via The Griffin Museum of Photography

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

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

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

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

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

Ashley Gilbertson

Ashley Gilbertson

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

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

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

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

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

Mark Peterson

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

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

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

 Via Pasatiempo

By Ania Hull

May 22, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It begins with the flag

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

source article here

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America the Beautiful

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

Monroe Gallery of Photography

112 Don Gaspar

505-992-0800; monroegallery.com

"Caught in the Crackdown" Tuesday, April 14 on PBS and Online

 Via PBS/Frontline

April 11, 2026

FRONTLINE and ProPublica trace the violence, protests and arrests stemming from federal immigration sweeps across the United States. The documentary examines the tactics, legal cases and impact — from Los Angeles to Chicago to Minneapolis.

Premieres Tuesday, April 14 on PBS and online.

FRONTLINE is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.

Stream Here on PBS.org

Check Your Local Listings for Broadcast Schedules 

Ryan Vizzions on archiving the Renee Good memorial

 

Via The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Video: Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune

March 6, 2026

When it comes to archiving spontaneous public memorials, there are no clear pathways for what to do. Ryan Vizzions, a traveling photographer, started collecting posters from the spontaneous public memorial that sprung up at the site of Renee Good’s killing. What happens next depends on the family’s wishes. Tap the link to read the full report by Alicia Eler.

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Ryan Vizzions archives Renee Good memorial site artifacts

 Via The Minnesota Star Tribune

By Alicia Eler

March 3, 2026

Ryan Vizzions:  

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

What happens next depends on the family’s wishes.

Ryan Vizzions started collecting posters from the spontaneous public memorial that sprung up at the site of Renee Good’s killing. The traveling photographer appointed himself the site’s caretaker.

He also gathered many other items — a cookie jar filled with handwritten letters rolled into scrolls, letters addressed to Good’s family, a canvas covered with names of people killed by federal agents since 2025.

“All these are prayers,” Vizzions said. “These are things that people brought because they cared. We owe it to them to try and preserve them and save them and make it so the future can learn about what happened here.”

When it comes to archiving spontaneous public memorials, there are no clear pathways for what to do. The work is fluid, and caretakers volunteer because they feel called to do so. It’s all open-ended and grassroots; people write the rules as they go along. Even the city of Minneapolis doesn’t have timelines for what happens to memorials, city spokeswoman Jess Olstad said.

At Good’s site, it’s unknown where the gathered items will ultimately go, but community members are in contact with the Good family about next steps.

Vizzions initially rented a storage unit for the posters and other items, but moved them to a more secure undisclosed residential location in south Minneapolis.

“These sites emerge when the future feels uncertain and the past feels unfinished,” said Alex Pretti memorial site caretaker Jadah Green, 43, at a “Caring for Spontaneous Public Memorials After State Violence” panel discussion Feb. 27. “They are not permanent installations. They are not yet historical memory. They are living thresholds.”

Vulnerable memorials

Vizzions has been guarding, cleaning and organizing the site since the week after Good was killed. The site is vulnerable to changing weather and vandalism ― like when someone poured gasoline on it and lit a nearby pile of wood on fire Feb. 17.

The city doesn’t take care of the sites, but might help with cleanup or security. Caretakers do the daily work of talking to visitors, cleaning the site and keeping it beautiful.

Paul Eaves of Minneapolis helps out at George Floyd Square and the Pretti and Good memorial sites.

“It’s not about ego,” said Eaves, 77. “It’s about service.”

Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez said he would like to see a permanent memorial for Good, but stressed that it’s up to the family, and it isn’t a decision that the city will or should make.

“I’ve heard from so many Latino neighbors, immigrant neighbors, about the courage that Renee Good had to look out for our community in a time when many of us feel like we have been sent back into the shadows,” said Chavez, who called the memorial a sacred space. “She brought light into this world.”

He wants caretakers and people affected by ICE to have a place “to mourn and celebrate Renee’s life, and a place where we can never forget what the federal government did and continues to do to our community.”

Vizzions’ favorite piece from the memorial is a painting on cardboard of Good in blue with the American flag.

“When we were doing the watch and we’d sit out there next to the fire, this one was facing us,” he said of painting. “For three weeks I stared at this piece.”

Vizzions raised more than $2,000 to pay for the storage space and equipment, including lights, backdrop, camera stands, tables, storage boxes and more.

In 2017, he published the photo book “No Spiritual Surrender: A Dedication to the Standing Rock Movement.”

He was in northern Minnesota on another project when he heard about Good’s killing. He drove down to Minneapolis and began camping out in front of the memorial in his van.

Through the process, he feels he’s become part of the community, and he’s contributing to the greater good.

The family’s decision

Rise & Remember Executive Director Jeanelle Austin said community members waited nearly two months to reach out to George Floyd’s family after his killing in 2020.

“You have to be able to give the families the time that they need to do all of the other things that take priority, and then when the family is ready, for them to decide what they want to do,” Austin said. “As caretakers, we’re keepers of the stories ― our job is not to make final decisions or final calls of what’s to come next.” --Full article with photographs

Today: Lessons from Minneapolis - Legal, safety and ethical considerations for photographers

 Via  Photographic Center Northwest

February 5, 2026

Lessons from Minneapolis

Legal, safety and ethical considerations for photographers

Join us Thursday, February 5, for a timely online panel discussion with photojournalists Nate Gowdy, David Ryder, Leah Millis, and Alicia Wagner Calzada, Deputy General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association. Moderated by Josh Trujillo, photographer and educator, the conversation will examine safety in protest coverage, photographers’ rights, and the legal and ethical considerations shaping photojournalism in today’s political climate.

Panelists & Moderator include:

Alicia Wagner Calzada — Deputy General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, where she focuses on press freedom, First Amendment protections, and legal advocacy for journalists working in the field.

Nate Gowdy — Seattle-based photographer whose work examines American politics and identity through a documentary and fine-art lens. He is the author of INSURRECTION, a timestamped photojournalistic chronicle of January 6.

David Ryder — Seattle-based freelance photojournalist who has covered war, wildfires, natural disasters, and protest movements across the United States, and who has completed hostile-environment training.

Leah Millis — Washington, D.C.–based photojournalist and press-safety advocate whose reporting spans politics, international protest movements, war, immigration, and the rise of domestic extremism in the United States.

Josh Trujillo — Educator, photojournalist, brand storyteller, and ethical journalism advocate.

Register for Zoom here

The Faces—and Middle Fingers—of the ICE Resistance in Minneapolis: Photographs by Ron Haviv

 Via The New Republic

January 23, 2026

Ron Haviv: A Minneapolis resident gives Bovino and his entourage of ICE agents the middle finger after they stopped for gas and pepper-sprayed the crowd that surrounded them.

War photographer Ron Haviv spent several days documenting the protests across the city.

"This needs to be documented, but at the same time the administration wants these images to be seen. They want people to see that they are doing what they said they would do. Second, they want it to create motivation for self-deportation. It is a very complicated formula.

This expansion of ICE, in terms of budget, personnel, and territory, is shocking for many people to witness, especially their masked presence and their weapons. Immigration policy isn’t black and white. In some areas, there’s agreement with what they are doing; in others, total opposition. But adding an element of cruelty, when things could be handled better, doesn’t make sense.

I’ve photographed under dictators, societies on the cusp of breakup, and outright invasion. One of the closest comparisons I see, in terms of class, economics, and values, is the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. People talked about being in a conflict over religion, but it was really about power and money, convincing people that those who were different were the enemy. That led to years of war. We are not there yet, but when rhetoric is backed by armed force, that’s how escalation begins. We’re starting to get used to the visualization of militarization on the streets. It feels like this is only going to increase. There’s no de-escalation. Minnesota is becoming a standard for activist reaction to ICE deployment." -Ron Haviv (click for full article)

Monroe Gallery Photojournalists Documenting Minneapolis ICE Protests and Demonstrations

 January 18, 2026

Monroe Gallery photojournalists are covering the thousands of ICE and Border Patrol officers flooding into Minneapolis and the intensifying situation after the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good.

Mark Peterson

Via The New York Times

Ron Haviv

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A post shared by Ron Haviv (@ronhaviv_vii)

David Butow

 

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Ryan Vizzions

Via Instagram



“The public should assume responsibility for creating an accurate record of what’s happening. It’s a big job that requires participation from all of civil society, including the local press, religious and community groups, librarians and teachers. Everyone. In every city. This is not an act of protest. It is record-keeping. There will come a time when people will want to know what it was like to be here, now. What was it like to work in a food truck or at a Home Depot when federal agents showed up? What was it like to be randomly stopped or followed on the sidewalk while walking home from a store? What’s it like for Native Americans to be accused by ICE of being undocumented?” --Poynter

As federal immigration enforcement expands and accountability falters, journalists and citizens share a duty to document this moment.

 Via Poynter

January 16, 2026

Perilous times call for the participation of all --click for full article

“The public should assume responsibility for creating an accurate record of what’s happening. It’s a big job that requires participation from all of civil society, including the local press, religious and community groups, librarians and teachers. Everyone. In every city. This is not an act of protest. It is record-keeping. There will come a time when people will want to know what it was like to be here, now. What was it like to work in a food truck or at a Home Depot when federal agents showed up? What was it like to be randomly stopped or followed on the sidewalk while walking home from a store? What’s it like for Native Americans to be accused by ICE of being undocumented?”

More: This moment will be defined by what we choose to record

‘This is not a peaceful protest!’

 Via NPR

January 4, 2026

A visual archive of Jan. 6, 2021, through the lenses of those who were there.

©Ashley Gilbertson

Officer Eugene Goodman: The Storming of the Capitol, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021

Related: Monroe Gallery photographers recorded the shocking storming of the Capitol on January 6, the resulting lock-down of the Capitol grounds, and the eventual inauguration of President Biden.

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

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

Press arrests used to silence protest coverage in 2025

Via US Press Freedom Tracker

December 15, 2025

 While covering anything from protests to government meetings, journalists in 2025 were pulled from news scenes, placed in cuffs and held in custody from minutes to days — long enough for deadlines to pass and breaking news to go cold.

As of Dec. 15, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented at least 32 instances in which journalists were detained or charged just for doing their jobs. While that count is lower than the 50 documented last year, each one is a warning flare that something fundamental is shifting in how authorities police information and those who gather it. Most were released without charges or had them quickly dropped, but the impact extends far beyond the time spent in custody.

One journalist arrested while covering a protest told the Tracker his arrest stopped the news from getting out. “Talk about putting the brakes on press freedom,” he said.

Protest beat as battleground

Protests have long been where the fault lines of press freedom are most visible, and 2025 was no different. Nearly 90% of the arrests and detentions this year occurred while journalists were covering demonstrations.

They all also centered around a single issue: immigration.  --click to read full report

Fall Of Freedom

 

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 now Online and in the Gallery November 18 - 23 of photographs documenting people struggling for their freedom; their right to live without fear, their right to speak and the right to protest inequities.

KUNM: Artists plan Fall of Freedom protest events around New Mexico

NPR: This weekend, artists are speaking out across the country

ArtNet: Artists Across the U.S. Are Staging Hundreds of Events to Protest Authoritarianism

France24: US artists launch nationwide ‘Fall of Freedom’ protest against rising censorship

Hyperallergic; Why I Joined the Artists Behind Fall of Freedom

NY Times: Artists Plan Nationwide Protests Against ‘Authoritarian Forces’

The Guardian: Artists plan nationwide US protests against Trump and ‘authoritarian forces'

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

Tracy Barbutes

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.

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Nina Berman

F**k the KKK, New Jersey, 1990

Federal judge hands press groups wins in lawsuits against LAPD, DHS: "The First Amendment demands better”

Via USA Today

September 15, 2025 

A federal judge handed press and civil liberties groups wins in two separate cases against the Los Angeles Police Department and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the treatment of journalists covering immigration raid protests.

U.S. District Judge Hernan D. Vera's preliminary injunctions bar, among other actions, the police department from arresting journalists for failing to disperse or otherwise interfering with journalists' ability to cover Los Angeles protests. The Department of Homeland Security's officers are also barred from "dispersing, threatening or assaulting" journalists who haven't "committed a crime unrelated to failing to obey a dispersal order." --click to read full article

"There's an old line in policing: We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way,” Adam Rose, press rights chair of the Los Angeles Press Club, said in a news release following the rulings. “Press organizations have been trying to help LAPD for years take the easy way, just asking them to train officers and discipline offenders. They wouldn't stop resisting. LAPD failed to police themselves. Now a judge is doing it for them."

Tracy Barbutes Photographs Yosemite Protest Rally For The SF Standard

Via The San Francisco Standard

August 25, 2025

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

"...then an upside-down U.S. flag in February to protest the NPS budget cuts. None of the people who hung those flags faced consequences. That upside-down flag garnered international attention and showed the power of El Capitan as a symbol"

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

©Tracy Barbutes

Related: Throughout history, flags have elevated the emotional impact of images.

Tracy Barbutes' Transgender Pride Flag Photograph Leads NY Times Article

 Via The New York Times

August 18, 2025

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

The National Park Service terminated Shannon Joslin over the May 20 demonstration, which it said took place in a prohibited area and lacked the required permits. -Click for full article

On February 22, 2025 – almost exactly 80 years to the day after Joe 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.

©Tracy Barbutes