Chatting the Pictures
Chatting the Pictures: The NRA’s Dangerous Aims
Welcome to Chatting the Pictures. Every two weeks, we present a short, lively video discussion between Michael Shaw, publisher of Reading the Pictures, and writer, professor, and historian, Cara Finnegan, examining a significant picture in the news. Chatting the Pictures is produced by Liliana Michelena.
Mark Abramson took this photograph for the New York Times. It shows visitors and attendees at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston, Texas, on May 28, 2022. Three days before, a gunman in nearby Uvalde, Texas, used an AR-15 to kill 21 people at an elementary school. A month later, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a New York gun safety law requiring a license to carry a concealed weapon in public.
In the video, we discuss how the photograph’s tone reflects the gun organization’s aggressiveness and the growing backlash against its politics and impact on civil society. We also highlight symbolic parallels to recent mass shootings and the way elements of the photo reflect gaps in the law and expressions of hate.
You can find all the Chatting the Pictures replays here.
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Panelists
An analyst of news photos and visual journalism, and a frequent lecturer and writer on visual politics, photojournalism and media literacy, Michael is the founder and publisher of Reading the Pictures.
Cara Finnegan is a writer, photo historian, and professor of Communication at the University of Illinois. She has been affiliated with Reading The Pictures for nearly 15 years, most recently as co-host of Chatting The Pictures. Her most recent book is Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital.
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