Resilience, Solidarity and Community in the Face of Federal Action: Photo Essay
This is a photo essay that was my final project for my photojournalism class.
Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, there have been swift federal actions affecting the LGBTQIA+ community, research, immigration and higher education. In the spring at UMass Amherst, 13 student visas have been revoked and restored in the span of a month, the university has had to establish an emergency fund for scientific research and the LGBTQIA+ community has come together to create art and a safe space for students to express themselves. Through this photo essay, I aim to capture moments of resilience, solidarity and community at UMass Amherst, focusing on genuine human interactions. There are moments of movement and also moments of stillness, symbolizing how community can manifest in various ways. In this gallery of photos, a thread of hope peeks through --- even if it isn't obvious from first glance.
The Transgender Emergency Fund, an organization dedicated to helping low-income and homeless trans people in Massachusetts, set up a table outside the New Africa House basement for the Trans Day of Visibility Concert on March 28.
On March 28, Phoebe from the Western Massachusetts indie rock band "Pipits" performs at the Trans Day of Visibility Concert hosted by UMass Students for Alternative Music (SALT) at the New Africa House basement. The Pipits were one of three bands centered around trans voices that performed that day.
On March 28, attendees at the Trans Day of Visibility concert hosted in the New Africa House basement share a quiet moment while the band sets up.
On March 28, an attendee at the Trans Day of Visibility concert dances to live music performed by K.O. Queen, a punk rock band, in the New Africa House basement.
On April 7, Anna Marie LaChance, a chemical engineering lecturer at UMass, speaks at the Multiunion LGBTQI+ Solidarity Meeting in the Campus Center. Addressing the recent visa revocations of international students at UMass, LaChance said, "Establish yourself as a safe person. Take it to your classroom. Your students deserve to know you're a supportive person and that you're here for them."
Over 200 people gathered outside of the Student Union on April 10 for a Hands Off Students, Hands Off Palestine rally and march hosted by UMass Students for Justice in Palestine.
Protesters hold signs, American flags and wave at passing cars near Kendrick Park on April 25 for their third "Hands Off" stand-out. Lisa Hallstrom (second from right), a retired Smith College professor, participated in the Civil Rights movement, the Anti-War movement and the Women's Rights movement. “I feel like there's no democracy here right now," Hallstrom said. "So I feel like, at 79 years old, with children and grandchildren, I feel like I have to stand up.”
On May 6, Imani Bibuld, a senior linguistics major, dances alongside Lindsay Forauer, a senior linguistics and theater major, in the Curtain Theater lobby. The duo originally performed a dance to Lorde's "Green Light" during the fall production of John Proctor is the Villain. The play gave social commentary on grooming, sexual assault and the #MeToo movement. Bibuld says they have found community and a voice through theater, describing a character they play as a "second skin" they slip on. "When she steps off the page, I want people to feel just as much as when I read [the script] for the first time," Bibuld says about the character they played in John Proctor, Shelby, who was a victim of sexual abuse. "I really want to tell stories like this because they allow for people who aren’t always necessarily jumping to be part of the dialogue.... to take it in...and that in turn helps them think," Bibuld said. "Even if there’s not a dialogue in the theatre space, it follows you outside."