Jen Lial Photography

Just another day in America. Scrolling, working, scrolling, editing, scrolling…. Photo taken in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 2019.

Protest photo from the day Roe was overturned. Captured June 24, 2022 in Providence, Rhode Island.

The helpers keep reminding us all that when you don’t know what to do next just do something, anything, to reboot your power and stop the feeling of helplessness. Looking back through my archives has given me example after example of what doing something looks like. Sometimes it’s as simple as just showing up.

Photographed in 2019, in Minneapolis, Minnesota credit to the artists work represented: and Guillermo Calzadilla. (Allots & Calzadilla: Chalk)

Who I am as a person is inseparable from my art. I was raised by my family to call out injustice and to not do so quietly and tepidly but loudly for all to hear.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” -MLK.

I believe that immigrants make America stronger.
I believe Black Lives Matter.
I believe LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.
I believe in evidence-based science and public health.
I believe in bodily autonomy.
I believe in reproductive freedom.
I believe in education.
I believe in voting rights.
I believe in our Constitution, freedom, and justice.
I believe in protecting the safety and dignity of marginalized people.

I absolutely oppose and condemn the harmful and cruel actions of the Trump/Vance administration with far too many reasons to list here. Watching and reading about the executions by ICE of Alex Pretti a 37 year old ICU nurse for the Veterans Administration, Silverio Villegas González (father of 2), Keith Porter Jr, (father of 2) Geraldo Lunas Campos (father of 4), and Renee Good (mother of 3) has been too much to bear in online silence.

While I regularly speak out and protest it felt inauthentic to not say anything here in this space. Creating community is one of the ways through this madness and doing so through art is one way I can keep resisting. Photography is a medium that can inspire change, highlight social injustice, provide factual references, record for history those who took a stand, and to help hold accountable those who perpetrate atrocities. In solidarity with those who step up and say, enough is enough.