As thousands of people marched in the streets of Louisville to protest the police killing of Breonna Taylor, millions more watched the events unfold at home through cell phones and computer screens. The images that came from the protests provided clarity to a narrative muddled by opposing perspectives, and though many voices have been amplified through these events, the photographers who capture these images tend to let their photos do most of the talking.
Bud Dorsey is an accomplished photojournalist who has been documenting life in Louisville’s West End for over 50 years. His photographs have brought the reality of day-to-day life in West Louisville to a wider audience and provided documentation of the racial justice movements in Louisville from the 1960s to today.
Jon Cherry has only been pursuing a career in photography for a few years, but his striking images from the frontlines of Louisville’s racial justice movement have already been featured in Vanity Fair, Time, The New York Times and many others. Most recently he covered the insurrection at the United States Capitol for Getty Images.
Together, these two photographers have provided countless images from a historic and important year in Louisville. At the end of 2020, WFPL arranged a virtual meeting between the two of them to reflect on the events of the year and to put some of what they’ve witnessed into words.
This is what they had to say.
