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The issues

A single image has the power to convey a complex concept, stir an emotional reaction, or pique the viewer’s curiosity. Below are a some images that ask the audience to stop, look here, pay attention, and ponder the deeper meaning.

WAR TORN — Military Veterans suffered more than the personal impact of conflict as the Iraq war dragged on and some began to question their support of the war. After her brother, a U.S. Marine, died during his tour of duty, this woman was left to raise his son, and question whether military service was worth it.

GROWING UP POOR IN CONNECTICUT — Often, growing up poor means growing up alone: a mother who works long hours outside the home; an absentee father; abuse and neglect from other struggling people who pass through your life and, sometimes, your home; and a school climate that reinforces the feeling that you’re not as good or as worthy as others. With no adults at home, 11-year-old Timmy sits in front of the television with an after-school cigarette.

WEB OF COMPLEXITY — A lush green expanse of farmland belies the complicated web of human societal conflicts in small rural towns like Kent, Connecticut. In this town, New York billionaires and old fashioned Yankees populate the homeland of the Schaghticoke Native Americans. The tribe’s bid for federal recognition caused controversy among Kent’s competing interests.

AT THE POLLS – While waiting in line to vote, Ray Castro of Jacksonville, Florida asks a question about the test ballot to a voting rights attorney at the Supervisor of Elections building.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT’S GLARE — President Barack Obama makes a speech to a crowd in Connecticut early in 2014. He would return to the state later that year to console the families and neighbors of 26 victims killed in the school shooting massacre at Sandy Hook School in Newtown.

THE TARGET — Bullying is more than physical and verbal abuse, it can take the form of being isolated and ostracized, and make the school setting a uniquely painful place.

DEFEND, DON’T AMEND — Bostonian Brian Felty joined other protesters in the halls of the State House to call for equal rights for gay and LGBTQ+ citizens moments before the Massachusetts legislature voted down a new version of the state constitution that would have restricted marriage to heterosexuals.

SEEING INSIDE — Has our need and desire for public security given way to our total loss of individual privacy?

BUTTON, UNBUTTON — These little things we take for granted, but making a button is a dirty job. And not one that pays well. Here, the hands of a factory worker in Connecticut demonstrate the finished product on the left, and a blank plastic form on the right.