Demos
For a period of time between presidential conventions, I photographed large, medium, and small
demonstrations along the East Coast of the United States. The subjects of these demonstrations
were as wide-ranging as were the imaginative forms of self-expression. Some were well organized
and heavily financed, others were clearly spur-of-the-moment but no less important or serious.
This portfolio explores the relationship between public discourse and our system of political
freedoms. It illustrates how essential constitutional liberties are to our identity as American citizens,
and to our notions of an electoral democracy.
The work also embraces the social documentary traditions of photojournalism by casting a
discerning gaze at the immediate and complex character that makes up the disparate sub-cultures of
our pluralistic society.
In some sense, the history of any period is told through the very public events we accept as markers
on a timeline. These photographs point to spaces in between those marks.
All images in this portfolio are © 2019 Robert Johnson, Jr. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Grandmothers Against War
