Exactly one year ago, on Nov. 8, 2016, Donald Trump won the presidential election. An exhibit by eight local photographers, titled “Resistance Photography: a Year of 45,” which opened last week at the Green Line Cafe at 43rd and Baltimore, marks the anniversary of that date.

The exhibit’s opening reception is slated for Wednesday, Nov. 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. All eight photographers – Kaltoum Alibrahimi, Chris Baker Evens, Darryl Murphy, Sonja Nosisa Noonan-Ngwane, Joe Piette, Kaytee Ray-Riek, Tieshka K Smith, and Rachael Warriner – will give their individual perspective on the many forms of protests, marches and public actions of resistance they’ve documented over the past tumultuous year. 

“We are a group of photographers who met each other at the many protest events over the last year,” said Chris Baker Evens, an Australian photographer currently living in Philadelphia. “It’s been a hard year… I offer my work to highlight the everyday resistance over the last 12 months.”

Sonja Nosisa Noonan-Ngwane describes herself as “a South African – American artist, creator and collector of moments.” “This body of my work touches on captured moments of public resistance in Philadelphia, instances of solidarity, community, vulnerability and struggle for equity,” she says.

Kaytee Ray-Riek explains she is “an activist first, and a photographer chronicling activism second.” Her current series of images “represents how I see activism under the current president — loud, focused, passionate, and (at times) full of joy.”

Canadian immigrant, Vietnam war veteran, retired union member and photographer Joe Piette is exhibiting a series of images called “The Face of Resistance”, in which he hopes “to show through what my camera captures the determined spirit of the people who protest in the streets.”

Kaltoum Alibrahimi is a photographer whose work, in her words, “focuses on using the camera as a tool to manipulate the gaze, pointing it towards the people, places, and things often left out.” “As a queer woman of color, the issues we document are very much personal to me. In this age of censorship and the criminalization of dissent, it feels increasingly important to document,” she explains.

Tieshka K. Smith is a Philadelphia-based photographer, blogger, community activist, creator of the #RacismIsASickness anti-racism art installation, and producer/host of the #VoicesForRacialHealing podcast. Her body of work explores questions of racial and civic identity formation, how memories and values are shaped, and the impact that marginalization of people and ideas has on neighborhoods in transition. As an artist and cultural worker, she strives to facilitate dialogue and radical action around a range of socioeconomic issues that impact everyday people living in urban communities.

The exhibit will be on display on Green Line Café’s walls through Dec. 31.