Rian Dundon
Magnum Foundation invites you to celebrate the launch of 2020 Magnum Foundation grantee Rian Dundon’s new book Protest City. Rian will be joined by Noelle Flores Théard, senior digital photo editor at The New Yorker, for a conversation and Q&A, followed by a book signing. This event is co-presented with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM ET
In-person and online
Doors open at 6:00 PM
59 East 4th St, 7W | New York, NY 10003
About the book: In the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Portland made national news with nightly social justice protests, often met with violent response by counter protestors and law enforcement. Though frequently regarded as a progressive hub, Portland has a long history of racial inequality and oppression, and the city’s entrenched divisions gained new attention during the Trump years. The photographs in Protest City present a visceral visual record of this significant moment in Portland’s history.
Rian Dundon, who has been photographing the rise of extreme politics on the West Coast since 2016, lived only a short walk from the protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd. For one hundred days, Dundon enmeshed himself in the demonstrations with an unobtrusive point-and-shoot camera. The result is a graphic portrayal of how social movements become politicized, how spectacle serves as a subtext to change in the digital age, and how modern protests blur distinctions among performance, ritual, and surveillance. As he follows the progress of Portland’s conflicts, Dundon draws connections to Oregon’s legacy as a stronghold of white supremacist extremism and interrogates the role of whiteness in racial justice movements.
Dundon’s striking photos recreate the immediacy and impact of the protests, while a foreword by journalist Donnell Alexander and introduction by historian Carmen P. Thompson contextualize the uprising’s sociopolitical background. A chronology and author’s note are also featured.
Books are now available online, and will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
About the speakers:
Rian Dundon is a photographer from Portland, Oregon. His books include Protest City, Fan, and Changsha. Dundon is a contributing author at the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and has taught documentary photography at the San Francisco Art Institute and University of California. He was a 2020 Magnum Foundation grantee.
Noelle Flores Théard has been the senior digital photo editor at The New Yorker since 2021. She was the program officer at Magnum Foundation from 2016 to 2021, and is a co-founder of FotoKonbit, a nonprofit organization created in 2010 to engage and support Haitians telling their own stories through photography.
The publisher and author would like to thank the Magnum Foundation, Documentary Arts, and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project for their generous support of this publication. Additional funding has been provided by Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.
Magnum Foundation is in an elevator building and has a restroom that is wheelchair accessible and gender-neutral. For access requests or questions, please contact events@magnumfoundation.org. As a small team, we will better be able to respond to requests made at least one week in advance.
Masks are currently appreciated, but not required. We may provide additional instructions ahead of the event.
Magnum Foundation events are made possible by the Henry Nias Foundation and our Circle of Friends. Additional support for this event was provided by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
