Jeremiah Ariaz, a professor of art at Louisiana State University, took a sabbatical in 2022 and visited 115 newspapers in his home state of Kansas. He set out to document the challenges facing both democracy and newspapers, seemingly joined at the hip these days in their respective futures. In his exhibit, The Fourth Estate, his photographs present vivid and stark images of the decline facing newspapers, offering a grim retelling of several that have closed but suggesting hope for those who persevere.

Ariaz says: “My photographs celebrate the civic function, labor, and technology at the heart of local newspapers’ production, while also documenting an industry in free-fall. Faced with the gutting of local journalism facilitated by digital news, social media, and diminishing profit margins, these newspapers often struggle as they continue to serve their communities.”

He will be speaking at Radically Rural during a lunch sponsored by The Keene Sentinel.