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 honor of World Photography Day on 19 August, we asked our executive director to share an image from our archive that she finds impactful. Joumana selected this image by Anna Boyiazis (@annaboyiazis), from the project ‘Finding Freedom in the Water,’ awarded in the 2018 Contest.
There is a mesmerizing quality to this image that is both relaxing and daunting. Relaxing in the peace that you feel when you look at the girl’s faces floating in the water and daunting in its unfortunate reference to migrants dying at sea. However when you understand that the girls are students learning how to swim and perform rescues in Zanzibar, then you start to read the image in a new light. And, when you know that one of the highest causes of mortality in Zanzibar is drowning, especially for girls who have been discouraged from learning to swim because of the absence of modest swimwear, then you understand the image differently.
What I am moved by here is not only the extraordinary beauty of the photograph itself, but also the symbol that lies in these girls taking the power in their hands and learning how to swim, in order to challenge and change their reality and our misconception.” - Joumana El Zein Koury, World Press Photo executive director
Pictured here, students from the Kijini Primary School learn to swim and perform rescues in the Indian Ocean, off Muyuni Beach, Zanzibar. Traditionally, girls in the Zanzibar Archipelago have been discouraged from learning how to swim, largely due to the absence of modest swimwear. But in villages on the northern tip of Zanzibar, the Panje Project (panje translates as ‘big fish’) is providing opportunities for local women and girls to learn swimming skills in full-length swimsuits, so that they can enter the water without compromising their cultural or religious beliefs.
MARION, Kan. — A search warrant that cleared the way for the raid of a Kansas newspaper last Friday has been withdrawn, KSHB 41 I-Team reporter Jessica McMaster learned late Wednesday morning.
Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey withdrew the warrant that served as the basis for the raid of the Marion County Record by the Marion Police Department last Friday.
As part of withdrawing the warrant, Bernie Rhodes, the attorney representing the newspaper, says all items that were seized as part of the raid have been released back to the attorney representing the newspaper.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation shared Wednesday afternoon that its investigation will move forward independently "and without review or examination of any of the evidence seized on Friday, Aug. 11."
Rhodes tells the KSHB 41 I-Team that a forensics expert is on standby to examine the items that were seized. Once those items are in the possession of the expert, the expert plans to make a "forensic copy" and then check to see if anything was accessed or altered.
Ensey issued a press release Wednesday, stating the affidavits established probable cause that an employee at the Marion County Record may be guilty of unlawful acts concerning computers, but that there was not sufficient evidence between the "alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized."
The county attorney said he is asking the courts to publicly release the affidavits.
The KBI will submit findings of its investigation to the Marion County Attorney's Office.
But for me, the best entertainment was always reading. I read for pleasure, for company, and for escape from my contained Virginia world. I could explore other places and imagine myself into other lives—lives that went beyond the limited choices available to my mother and the women of her circle, who were all ruled by the era’s prescriptions of female domesticity. The written word introduced me to what girls could do: solve mysteries, like Nancy Drew; brave the Nazis, like Anne Frank; demand change, like the protagonist of Susan Anthony: Girl Who Dared. Reading could provide, to borrow Scout’s words in To Kill a Mockingbird, a way to escape “the starched walls of a pink cotton penitentiary closing in on me.” And words could carry me beyond the gentle slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains that rose behind our house. They offered a view of national and global affairs that caught me up in a sense of urgency. I was frightened by the fact that Sputnik had been launched and was passing by overhead every 96 minutes in its orbit of the Earth. I wondered how the Russians had beaten us into space. I was inspired by the courage of Hungarians fighting against communism. I was reassured by portraits of the confident prosperity of postwar America. Yet I felt growing doubt and unease as I read descriptions of the turbulence and conflict emerging to undermine it. (more - subscription required)
Spencer Kim helps clear debris at the ruins of a house belonging to a friend in Kula, Hawaii on Aug. 12, 2023. This small hillside town on Maui suffered damage from deadly fires that hit several parts of the island on Aug. 8. David Butow for TIME
The outrageous law enforcement assault on the Marion County Record newspaper raises a veritable forest of red flags.
Why would a judge sign off on an apparently illegal search? What type of officials would willingly execute such an abuse of power? Could any convoluted sequence of liquor permit infighting possibly justify such drastic measures? Are we still living in a state and nation where the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution applies?
We don’t know definitive answers to any of these questions yet, and the story may well still surprise us. In the meantime, the Record itself and Kansas Reflector’s story offer starting points.
This morning, though, I’d like to write about a part of the story that we do know. We know that law enforcement officials raided the office of a news outlet and carted away computers and cellphones. On its own, with no other background or context, this sets an incredibly destructive precedent.
Not just in Marion.
“Newsroom raids in this country receded into history 50 years ago,” said John Galer, chair of the National Newspaper Association and publisher of the Journal-News of Hillsboro, Illinois.
“Today, law enforcement agencies by and large understand that gathering information from newsrooms is a last resort and then done only with subpoenas that protect the rights of all involved. For a newspaper to be intimidated by an unannounced search and seizure is unthinkable in an America that respects its First Amendment rights. NNA stands by its community newspapers and calls upon top officials in Kansas to immediately return any property seized by law enforcement so the newspaper can proceed with its work.”
An attack on a newspaper office through an illegal search is not just an infringement on the rights of journalists but an assault on the very foundation of democracy and the public’s right to know. This cannot be allowed to stand.
– Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association
Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, added strong words on behalf of local outlets: “An attack on a newspaper office through an illegal search is not just an infringement on the rights of journalists but an assault on the very foundation of democracy and the public’s right to know. This cannot be allowed to stand.”
Imagine for a moment that you’re the editor and publisher of a small weekly newspaper somewhere else in Kansas. Imagine too that you’ve been speaking with a source about potential wrongdoing by a prominent resident. That resident happens to have a friendly relationship with the local police department. You know that publishing the story, even in the best of times, will create a firestorm in your little community.
Now imagine that you read the coverage coming out of Marion County. You see that printing such a story — or even reporting it — might put you at risk of being raided. It might put your employees at risk. It might threaten the entire financial stability of your business.
So do you publish the story? Or do you think twice? Do you potentially delay the piece for a couple of weeks until this all blows over?
Well, do you?
That’s the damage already done in Marion. That’s the damage already done to Kansas journalism. No matter how the story shakes out — if officials return all the seized computers and cellphones this afternoon — a message has been sent. That message conflicts with the tenets of an open society. It conflicts with free expression. It shuts down the ability of democracy’s defenders to do their jobs, informing and educating the public.
Or as Record publisher and editor Eric Meyer told us yesterday: “It’s going to have a chilling effect on us even tackling issues.” What’s more, it will have “a chilling effect on people giving us information.”
A toothpaste tube has been squeezed, hard, and there’s no getting all that minty fresh goo back inside its container.
No matter the size of the outlet, no matter the reporter, the memory of this raid will linger. Stories will be slowed or go unwritten. Towns, cities, counties and entire states will lose out on vital knowledge about the misdeeds of powerful people. That’s why I care, and that’s why the Reflector cares. That’s why journalists across this country, when they learn about what happened in Marion County, will care too.
Look, I understand. Journalists and journalism can be pretty annoying at times. But no one should doubt our commitment to doing our best for both readers and our communities. Folks who stand in the way of us doing that job don’t just pick a fight with us. They pick a fight with the people we serve.
One more point. If you revere the Constitution — as so many conservatives and liberals claim to do these days — don’t just sit back and watch. Step up to defend our shared freedoms. Because if the Marion County Record can’t report and print freely, neither can the rest of us.
And neither can you.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
A Pioneer Organizer Of The Office Workers' Union, Wall Street and Broad Street, NYC, 1936
Many of America’s most cherished rights materialized because someone took action.
“Good Trouble,” an exhibition of more than 50 photographs documents the power of the individual to inspire movements at Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery of Photography.
Photographs can propel passion and inspire change, from the images of a spinning Gandhi to the Standing Rock protests.
The photographs document Civil Rights leaders as well as other lesser-known and everyday people who champion freedom across the globe, from labor to social to environmental issues.
“It’s showing the courage and the necessity for the everyday person to stand up for what’s right,” said Sidney Monroe, gallery co-owner.
The images extend from the 1930s to the present.
Life magazine photographer Carl Mydans captured an office workers’ union protest in 1936. An unidentified woman leads the group cradling an American flag. Mydans was known for his World War II photographs.
“Obviously, she is a young leader of a union,” Monroe said. “For a woman at that time, that’s pretty remarkable.”
Chávez was an American labor leader and Civil Rights activist. He co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers labor union. Ideologically, his world-view combined leftist politics with Catholic social teachings.
“It’s presented as an everyman, a worker, which of course, he was,” Monroe said.
“It’s become a worldwide movement,” Monroe said. “Apparently, they had some lessons in school, and she said if these parents and adults aren’t going to do anything, I’ll sit outside Parliament.”
Ryan Vizzions’ photograph of the Tennessee Three documents the three state representatives who were expelled from the legislature for protesting Republican inaction on gun violence. The shot captures a press conference after they were reinstated.
Gandhi, perhaps more than any other person, embodies the exhibition’s theme of a long-term commitment to a cause. His spinning in the face of provocations during India’s anti-colonial movement was symbolic of self-sufficiency. He spun daily for one hour beginning at 4 a.m. Famed photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White shot the portrait shortly before Gandhi was assassinated.
“Gandhi was very particular about having an audience with him,” Monroe said. “He insisted she learn how to use a spinning wheel. She wrote Gandhi called her his personal tormentor because she was using this large flash. It was disruptive to his meditation.”
The exhibition will hang through Sept. 17.
'GOOD TROUBLE'
WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe
Good Trouble is on exhibition through September 17, 2023. "Protest is an invaluable way to speak truth to power. Throughout history, protests have been the driving force behind some of the most powerful social movements, exposing injustice and abuse, demanding accountability and inspiring people to keep hoping for a better future. The right to protest encompasses various rights and freedoms, including the freedom of assembly, the freedom of association, and the freedom of expression. Unfortunately, these precious rights are under attack and must be protected from those who are afraid of change and want to keep us divided."
"Ironically, on the day when the assault took place, I was on my way to a meeting in City Hall to discuss how the city could open up more job opportunities to contractors of color and to workers of color in the city," Landsmark, who was a young lawyer at the time of the attack, told Johnson.
"I had no expectation that I would encounter a crowd of anti-busing demonstrators," he said. "My mind was fixed on creating opportunities and jobs for young people in the city."
During this time period, Boston was fraught with discrimination and uproar over court-ordered school desegregation.
"Boston half a century ago was fraught with all kinds of discrimination," Landsmark explained. "It affected housing. It affected the police department. It affected schools. It affected our transportation system. Redlining had been in place and had made it virtually impossible for African-Americans to be able to live where they wanted to live in the city. The transportation system was one that discriminated in terms of employment. It was a place that was very uncomfortable for people of color, and African Americans in particular, to live and to have opportunities for career growth and opportunities to really take advantage of all of the educational opportunities that exist within the city."
With the racial climate at the forefront, Landsmark said he knew the attack could transcend into a way for him to speak to larger issues of the civil rights movement.
"From the moment I was attacked in City Hall Plaza, I knew that I was going to be placed in a position to have an opportunity to talk about the issues of race and of access to jobs and education that existed within this region. It was clear to me that people of color, and African-Americans in particular, had been discriminated against for generations, and that at that moment, there was an opportunity for me to have a platform to address those issues in the context of bussing as it was taking place in the city," he said.
The Pulitzer Prize photograph, titled "The Soiling of Old Glory," was taken by photojournalist and former NewsCenter 5 videographer Stanley Forman.
"The day I took that picture, I didn't get — I tell everybody, I didn't get the impact of it. I mean, I ran down and continued on the coverage. They left here (City Plaza), and I just followed them," F0rman said.
"When did you realize the magnitude of what you had?" Johnson asked Forman.
"I think when we were in the office, and the editors were looking at it, and I was looking at it, and they were so frightened it would start a race war," Forman replied. "I think that's when I realized how bad it was. It took a few hours for me to catch on."
"What Stanley and I have realized over time is that the photograph provides an incentive, a platform for us to raise issues around race in the city, not only in terms of what happened in the 1970s but more importantly in terms of what is happening now as we look forward with new generations of individuals who are addressing these same issues of racial justice," said Landsmark.
Landsmark, a long-time civil rights activist and now a professor of public policy at Northeastern University, said Boston has come a long way but said work still needs to be done to achieve racial justice.
"There's been a great deal of change in the city, primarily in the public sector. Our city council is elected and is composed primarily of people of color. For the first time, we have a person of color as mayor within the city, and we've made significant advancement in many of our public sector areas, but we have a huge amount of work to do in the private sector. Our financial services area, our high-tech companies, our universities, our biotech firms all need to do considerably more to open up job opportunities for young people of color in and around the city and need to use their private sector resources and capital to develop job training programs and career opportunities for people within the city," said Landsmark.
"In 2023, did you think you'd still be speaking about achieving racial justice?" Johnson asked Landsmark.
"I was perhaps naïve in believing that by 2023 we would be much further along not only in Boston but nationally in terms of achieving racial justice, in terms of achieving opportunities for African-Americans to be able to be professionals and homeowners and to maintain stability within their families. And it's a little disappointing that we're still struggling today with many of the same issues that we faced in 1976 when I was attacked on City Hall Plaza," he said.
Just down from City Hall Plaza, the NAACP convention was getting underway.
It has been over 40 years since the annual convention was held in the Commonwealth, and Landsmark hopes that the return of the national convention to the city will serve as a tide change in Boston's history.
"Boston is definitely ready to take advantage of this moment, in part because our elected officials have embraced social change, in part because the demographics of who is living in the city have changed so significantly, and in part, because we understand that the future of the city is dependent on the success of people of color in the greater Boston area," Landsmark said.
WCVB
Ted Landsmark and Stanley Forman
The message of the 114th National Convention is "Thriving Together," which is something Landsmark and Forman know a thing or two about, as they are forever attached to the story of "The Soil of Old Glory."
"People have asked me whether I thought Stanley should have intervened somehow," Landsmark shared, as he was standing beside Forman. "And I think that in doing his job of taking the photo at that moment, he contributed to the kind of dialog that we need to have not only in Boston but around the country, around the implications of hate and racial violence and what it is we need to think about doing to eliminate both."
“I was on my way to an affirmative action meeting with city officials to try to open more jobs for people of color and minority contractors in the city of Boston,” Landsmark says. “I was attacked by a group of anti-busing demonstrators. And that moment was captured in a famous photograph where a young person was trying to kill me with the American flag.”
David Butow: The AI/photography space is moving so fast I created a website with fellow photog David Paul Morris to help keep track and open a dialogue as things unfold, for better or worse.
There are existential questions about how Artificial Intelligence will modify the appeal and strength of photography. The principle one is: what impact will the technology have on viewers, from the pure enjoyment of an aesthetically pleasing image to the usefulness of pictures to tell us something truthful about the social and natural conditions of the world?
That is why we’ve created this website, to consider these questions as they’re unfolding, and allow people to contribute to the discussion in comments at the bottom of the posts. The have been many articles about the subject in the last few months so we’ve consolidated several of them onto the posts marked “AI & Fautojournalism.”
We’ll also discuss the opposite of AI photography, with gear reviews and posts tagged “Real Frames” which feature single, non-computer generated photographs, from ourselves and various contributors, and tell the backstory about how they were created. Our first RF post is from Rian Dundon‘s new book “Protest City“.
Welcome and thank you for joining us. If you’d like to sign up for our mailing list write us at TheRealFramePhoto@gmail.com and put “subscribe” in the subject line. You can find more about us on our “About” page.
So let’s go…
The recent rapid advances in artificial intelligence raises a question for many people who like making photo-style images: “Do I even need to leave the house?” For some I think the answer will be “no.” Before the emergence of AI imagery there has been a dynamic emerging of enthusiasts who take photo tours to get specific types of pictures that are essentially set up for them when the get to the destination. The less adventurous wing of that crowd will probably gravitate towards AI, doing everything at home or perhaps creating some combination of real and imagined pictures.
THE EXPERIENCE
The other approach, the thing we most enjoy about making real frames, is being there. The desire not just to create, but to experience something first-hand. The picture becomes of the synthesis of the two. It’s about taking chances and being open to fulfillment, or disappointment. This means witnessing something for the first time, not knowing exactly what will unfold, but knowing it’s often something more interesting than we could have imagined.
Great pictures were not made by photographers who knew exactly what they were going to get. They hiked mountains, went to neighborhoods that made them feel strange. They faced dangers, they ate weird food, they got too cold or too hot, they got lost, and then they found something no one had ever seen before.
You don’t have to travel far and wide to find of these moments, they might occur in your own home or walking down the sidewalk. But being “present” in that moment, connecting with your environment in some way enriches your own experience and the picture becomes a reflection of that experience.
TRUTH AND RESPECT
The value of that experience runs through the whole process of making the images, starting with the subjects, be they people, animals, cityscapes or natural scenes. If a photographer has been physically present in the environment there will always be an element of truth to the work, no matter how interpretive it is.
We’re already seeing very clever and fun uses of the technology. Good art always pushes boundaries and I think in the broad field of visual communication, we should embrace the possibilities. The trouble lies in the potential for misuse of these pictures for disinformation, false historical revisionism, and deceitful propaganda.
Beyond just a single fake image or video being used to mislead people, the cumulative effect of repeated examples is likely to have a detrimental effect on the public such that people might question the veracity of nearly everything they see online, particularly things that challenge them in some way. In other words, they might believe the stuff that’s fake, and not believe the things that are real. This could be a gnarly combination of cynicism and denial, accelerating the “post-truth” dynamic.
So while we’ll discuss AI and its alarming implications, we’ll also have a lot of upbeat discussions about making real frames. The photographer gets satisfaction from making these kinds of pictures and the viewer is served by seeing something that is really out there, something they might have seen themselves, albeit in a different way. That’s where the value of photography lies and that’s what separates it from other art forms. It’s what’s kept photography alive for nearly 200 years and hopefully what will keep it relevant in the midst of these profound technological changes.
