This post is not meant to make you comfortable. It contains a lot of images that range anywhere from unsettling to terrifying. Just putting that out there before going on.
This is not a political blog, but I don’t want to continue with “business as usual” here with the fear, pain, and turmoil that is going on in the United States this week. This is where I live and where a lot of my readers live. I want to take a moment to say:
Black lives matter.
We are not out of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
American democracy is at risk.
But this blog is about the power of visuals. Photographers have been brilliant in documenting America in 2020, vividly distilling turbulent times with unforgettable images.
Patricia McKnight’s photo of Wisconsin voters. 7 April 2020.
Alyson McLaren’s photo of nurses counter-protesting in Denver. 19 April 2020.
Jeff Kowalsky’s photo of white man in the face of state police in Michigan’s capital. 30 April 2020.
Nathan Aguirre’s picture of Deveonte Joseph in his graduation gown during a protest in St. Paul. 28 May 2020.
Nick Swartsell’s picture of Cincinnati protest. 29 May 2020. (But he says, “Please stop using this photo to shame.”)
Julio Cortez’s picture of Minneapolis. 29 May 2020.
Artist and photographer unknown. A sculpture called “To serve and protect,” from Salt Lake City, Utah, after protests against police violence. 31 May 2020.
Richard Grant’s picture of police pointing a rubber bullet gun at a black girl in Long Beach, California. 31 May 2020.
Martha Raddatz’s tweet of the Lincoln memorial. 2 June 2020.
• • • • •
I don’t think verbal descriptions could capture how dire the situation this moment is for America. If you had shown me these not long ago, I might have guessed they were from some overblown movie.
The lesson for posters? Use more photos.
I may add to this post as I spot more photos. If you want to suggest an addition, email me or tweet @Better_Posters.
Update, 29 June 2020:
Lawrence Bryant’s picture of an armed St. Louis couple confronting peaceful Black Lives Matters protesters. 28 June 2020.
There are many pictures of this incident. Many show only the woman, including the first I saw making the rounds today (by Lauri Skrivan, fifth from top here). I prefer this one because it shows both man and woman, and importantly, who the guns are being drawn against.
Update, 29 June 2020:
Lawrence Bryant’s picture of an armed St. Louis couple confronting peaceful Black Lives Matters protesters. 28 June 2020.
There are many pictures of this incident. Many show only the woman, including the first I saw making the rounds today (by Lauri Skrivan, fifth from top here). I prefer this one because it shows both man and woman, and importantly, who the guns are being drawn against.
• • • • •
Update, 25 July 2020:
Robert McNees says of this picture, “At what point is something too literal to be a metaphor.” 14 July 2020.
Portland. This photo is making the round on Twitter without credit. This tweet has the earliest timestamp I have been able to find, so the picture was probably taken the night or early morning of 23-24 July.
Update, 27 August 2020:
The California wildfires meets COVID-19. Photo by Noah Berger. Hat tip to Rupert Myers.
Update, 29 August 2020:
There are many pictures of this protest on the last night of the US Republican National Convention (27 August 2020). This particular image is from here.
Update, 22 January 2021: Yes, these are from a while back.
From after the 2020 election.
External links
Michigan man in now-famous Capitol protest photo: 'I didn't scream in anybody's face'
This is a graduation. No wonder they wore caps and gowns.
US riots: Rubber bullet gun pointed at child at Long Beach protest
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