July 14, 2016
Notes

Baton Rouge to Dallas: Our Twitter/Instagram Review

From Baton Rouge to St. Paul to Dallas, these have been ten extraordinarily difficult days in the civil life of America. The proximity of the events, as well as the twisted symmetry of officers killing two different black men in different cities, followed by the retaliatory murder of five police officers in Dallas, has led to widespread shock, anger and deep soul searching. Besides the posts on the site, we have been reacting to visuals on social media. In chronological order, starting with our difficulty reacting at all, here is a selection of tweets and posts of what we saw and thought over this wrenching time:

 

 

With all the pain and raw feeling in America right now, I was drawn to this photo by Ruddy Roye made last Spring. Struggling with his own demons at the time, it came as a vision. Through faith and the magic of photography, it allowed him to imagine that all of us might escape like this. Just as much, though, it’s about insulation, about feeling that safe and able to let go, about having that much access to the commons. And it’s about alignment with the breadth of culture (jazz, no less!) while *the other* stands and waits on the outside. #Repost @ruddyroye ・・・ March 21, 2016 Subway tripping Four days later and it is not anger that I feel, it’s hopelessness. It’s a feeling that comes through at least twice a month, sometimes to ambush me with depression, and at another time to remind me that nothing I do will make any sense. A fool once told me “photography does not change a man’s station. It does not change anything.” It has taken me years, day after day, walking this path to prove him wrong. I sit across from this guy, his headphones stuffed in his ears as he falls asleep seemingly listening to Andre Vida’s saxophone, the title song “A response to Long Sorrow.” I call it the subway trip, a sweet departure from reality, a fantastical walk into dreamscape. It is in photography and the art of making pictures that I find solace, faith and magic. And with this trinity, I can create enough pixie dust for us all to dream on a subway sojourn. #subwayrunnings #bedstuyportrait #brooklynportrait #brooklynphotography #streetportrait #streetphotography #makeportrait #madeinwetzler #makeportraits #leicaq #leicaworld #leica_camera_usa @leicacamerausa @leicaakademieusa #subway #privilege #sleep

A photo posted by @readingthepictures on

 

 

 

A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is detained by law enforcement near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge. Jonathan Bachman/Reuters

 

 

(**Sorry about the wording in this last tweet. On our Facebook page, it was revised to read: One of the most powerful visual responses to racial violence, the photo, too, is “a call to arms,” given Trump’s supposed post-St. Paul, Baton Rouge, Dallas bounce in the polls. (photo: Barbara Davidson/LAT via Twitter)

photo 2: Spencer Platt/Getty Images; photo 4: Jonathan Bachman/Reuters.

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Michael Shaw
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