Jeremiah Ariaz’s newest exhibit, We Hold These Truths is a selection of photographs made across the U.S. during the Trump presidency. Drawn from the Declaration of Independence, the title implicates “We” the viewer as an active participant, acknowledging the collective responsibility shared in our democracy. The photographs reveal the anxiety felt across the nation and speak to this historic moment, as tensions run increasingly high in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
Below he shares the stories behind some of the images that appear in the show.
Gary, Main Street, Great Bend, KS, 2020
Gary said he was a counter-protester to the people gathering around the country in support of Black Lives Matter (there were no protesters in Great Bend). He said he was “...a big fan of Trump. My girlfriend too.”
Eric, Russell County, Kansas, 2020
Oil hit historically low prices last summer, largely due to the lack of demand as people across the country sheltered at home during the on-going public health pandemic. Eric transferred crude from one off his three pumping wells into storage tanks waiting to bring it to market, hoping prices rise.
Sublette, Haskell County, KS, 2020
President Trump frequently refers to Covid-19 as the “China Virus.” Many people don’t realize the most deadly virus to spread globally originated in the U.S. though is commonly referred to as the “Spanish Flu”. Epidemiological evidence traces the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 to the sparsely populated Haskell County in southwestern Kansas where the first cases were reported. With the outbreak of WWI, men from Haskell County traveled to Fort Riley, KS then were deployed to Europe where the virus spread. US government censors minimized reportsof the deadly virusso as to maintain morale for the war. The virus came to be known as the “Spanish Flu” because Spain, which was neutral in the war, allowed press to freely report on the pandemic. The virus killed more people than any outbreak of disease in human history. Conservative estimates place the global death toll at 21 million though recent scholarship suggests the number of dead was between 50 and 100 million. A century ago the world population was only 28% of what it is today. Approximately 1/3 of the world’s population was affected. (Suggested Reading: The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John Barry.)
Former Darkroom, the Haskell County Monitor-Chief, 2020
More than 2000 American newspapers have gone out of business since 2004. For many papers still in operation, media consolidation has led to dramatically reduced staff. When citizens lack critical information to make good decisions, there is less political engagement, reduced local coverage and accountability, and weakening community tiesresulting in a diminished Democracy.At the time the photograph was made, The Haskell County Monitor-Chief, distributedweekly, had a one-person staff. (Suggested Reading: Ghosting the News: Local Journalism And The Crisis of American Democracyby Margaret Sullivan.)
Mortuary, Zachary, LA,2020
By October the death toll from Coronavirus surpassed 200,000 Americans. On average,over the month of September, about 40,000 Americans were infected by Covid-19 daily, and on average, 850 Americans are dying every day.
Though the U.S. has 4% of the world’s population, we have 24% of the world’s Covid-19 deaths.
Scarlett, Ellinwood, KS (Listening to the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing Civil Rights Protection for Gay and Transgender People), 2020
The landmark Supreme Court case was brought by Aimee Stephens after being fired from a Michigan funeral home following the announcement in 2013 that she was a transgender woman and would start working in woman’s clothing. Scarlett is a 77 year-old transgender woman who fought in the Vietnam War, then returned home to teach, but soon quit to drive a truck for the Coca Cola Bottling Company where she could wear a dress under her work-issue coveralls. She hid her gender identity and only began to come out to close friends and family in 1999. This year she is publicly identifying as Scarlett no matter what she is wearing or how others perceive her identity.
Wildfire, Idaho, 2016
The West is burning. Wild fires have increased in intensity in recent years. Climate change has led to dryer conditions and an increased number of dead trees that provide fuel for the fires. Construction has also providing additional fuel. Housing prices in urban areas have pushed many people out of the cities and into previously undeveloped land. These two factors have converged leadingto dramatically more destruction. This year in the West over 5 million acres have burned. 2020 is the worst fire season on record.
Aftermath of Hurricane Sally, Alabama (I), 2020
The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season has featured tropical cyclone formation at an unprecedented rate producing (thus far) 24 named storms, 8 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The English alphabet naming system hasbeen exhausted and we are now using the Greek alphabet for only the second time in history. Hurricanes Laura and Sally made landfall in the U.S. on the same week.
Wilder on Front Porch, Douglas County, Kansas, 2020
Wilder graduated a year early from high school with plans to attend Knox College in the fall. In June when this photograph was made, it was unclear ifin the face of the pandemic it would be safe for himto leave hometo attend college. His apprehension is shared by students, teachers, and parents across the country.
We Hold These Truths will be on view through November 21, 2020. Please contact us to schedule an appointment.