American Reportage chronicles the region with powerful images

Collective of photographers teaming up with emerging artists to document life during COVID-19

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By Staff

As much as we believe in the power of the written word, we at Postindustrial understand and appreciate the impact of the stirring images that often accompany our reporting and storytelling.

Some of the images you see in our work are produced by the photography collective American Reportage, a group of award-winning and dedicated image makers whose work has appeared in leading media outlets. 

Several of those photographers live and work in Postindustrial America — making them an ideal partner in our collective effort to tell impactful stories from the region. They include founding members Pete Marovich, Justin Merriman, Jeff Swensen, Kristen Jae Bethel, and  Nima Taradji. 

Now, American Reportage is expanding their work, by partnering with Boyd’s Station, a nonprofit that documents life in Harrison County, Ky., for a national photographic project — AMERICA REIMAGINED: Life in the COVID-19 Era. 

“Our mission at American Reportage is all about filling the gap,” Marovich said. “Since our founding, we have filled the gaps in reporting and documenting that exist from the consolidation of the newspaper and magazine business that have left so many newsrooms decimated – so the partnership with Boyd’s Station to lift up the voices and storytelling of these young photojournalists from our platform felt like a natural fit for us.

The project offers a closer look at how the U.S. and its people have changed since the first COVID-19 cases were reported in early 2020.  

Participants can join select emerging photographers in documenting communities in the age of COVID-19. 

Boyd’s Station initially invited students who applied for the Project 306.36 grants over the past three years to participate. Realizing the scope and enrichment this project could provide, the invitation expanded.  The student participants from across the U.S. will join member photojournalists from American Reportage along with a diverse and awarding-winning collection of professional editors and photojournalists as mentors. 

American Reportage will present this work on the collective’s website.

Boyd’s Station offers emerging artists and student journalists a rural and serene environment in Kentucky to create through residence programs.

Violet Spencer, 4, left, Josephine Spencer, 6, Jack Spencer, 4, Eloise Turner, 7, and Charlotte Turner, 5, right, pile into Travis and Dianna Spencer’s 1959 Ford Edsel Ranger to watch the 2019 production of The Addams Family at the South Drive-In Theater in Columbus, Ohio, on May 23, 2020. While the South Drive-in Theater was open to the public, certain policies were in place, including requiring masks to purchase snacks, space between cars and space between patrons using the restrooms. (Photograph by Gaelen Morse, AMERICA REIMAGINED)

AMERICA REIMAGINED will be curated in a collection. Boyd’s Station will archive the collection in collaboration with American Reportage. 

For program guidelines, please email submit@boydsstation.com.