Ken Light | American Stories:1969-1995 showcases three decades of work by the acclaimed photographer, highlighting significant moments in American history from 1969 to 1995. Light’s images focus on social issues, human rights, and the lives of overlooked communities, providing a powerful look at the stories of this period. The opening reception is Thursday, October 10, 6:00 pm. The photographer will attend and sign copies of the show's catalog.  RSVP. Bronx Documentary Center, 614 Courtlandt Avenue, Bronx NY Info Above: Cambodian Invasion Riot, Columbus, Ohio, April 30, 1970

In his introduction to the catalog for the show, Brian Wallis, Executive Director of The Center of Photography Woodstock writes, "Now more than ever, documentary photography matters. In an era of unleashed hatred and political divisiveness, documentary photography provides a grounding in a tangible world of empirical evidence. These vivid images record lives, places, and everyday events that actually happened and that would otherwise remain unseen.

Certainly, misconceptions about the nature of the proof provided by documentary photographs have been legitimately challenged: we can now accept that there is no singular or objective truth, that all photographs should be seen as fundamentally collaborative, and that documentary photography of the downtrodden has often been used to assuage the social guilt of privileged class. But still, even in an age of digital manipulation and artificial intelligence, we can imagine a radical documentary photography, one that pursues and upholds an activist, even utopian, political mission. 

Evidence of such an approach is provided by the photographic work of Ken Light, one of the leading social documentary photographers in the world today. For the last fifty-five years, Light has produced extraordinary black-and- white images of various social injustices throughout the United States, in the hope that his photographic revelations would make a political difference. 

In the Afterword for his book, Course of Empire (Steidl 2021), Light wrote, “’Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’: this line inspired me [and] many of my generation…. Despite their deep divisions, members of both political parties believe that people deserve dignity and that every human being deserved a chance to reach or exceed their potential. Students flocked to organizations like VISTA to work in marginalized communities in our own country. Senator Robert Kennedy went to see what depravation looks like in the United States on a widely publicized trip. In Mississippi he found thousands of children bordering on starvation and and shocked a nation complacent in its post war abundance.

“I believed in America. But instead of conditions improving, drastic changes in the social fabric have made life on the lower rungs worse. I have directly witnessed what happens when politicians become lobbyists’ lackeys. I’ve seen the hatred people have absorbed from angry, bombastic conservative talk radio and TV shows. Our government has become less and less concerned about the little guy. Politicians hardly venture outside their comfort zones or their fundraising social circles. Going to Mississippi like Kennedy did to see and listen to people and then expose their poverty and frustration is no longer in their best interests.

“We are a culture experiencing unimaginable political change. A decade ago my project started with the premise that America was faltering. I had no idea that “faltering” or “waning” was hardly the word for it: our country was in a full-blown crisis, ready for a corrupt autocrat to take the helm and destroy the democratic process. Many fear that America is over. We have witnessed up close and very personally that democracies are living organisms, and more fragile than we realize. They require regular care and feeding. We’ve certainly tested the limits of ours. Have we pushed America beyond repair?” 

The exhibition includes work from some of Ken Light’s twelve published books, with selections from Report to the Shareholders, Course of the Empire; Midnight La Frontera; What’s Going On? 1969-1974; Valley of Shadows and Dreams; Coal Hollow, Delta Time; Texas Death Row; To The Promised Land; and With These Hands. All photos:  © Ken Light/Contact Press Images