Exhibition Statement

“We the People” is a 10-day pop-up photography exhibit coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. These images celebrate how Americans share their views and voices through individual expression, community response, and public demonstration – reminding us that our elected leaders serve the people and that our collective voices rightfully shape local as well as national directions. As a melting pot of ethnicities, religions, and lifestyles, our nation’s strength relies on the ability for voices of all people to be heard and respected.

The six photographers participating in this exhibit thank the Salt Lake City’s Main Library and the library staff for this opportunity. Individual artist statements provide more information about the work of each photographer.

Nicholas Ioan Lazaroae Artist Statement

For the past six years, my artistic practice has been deeply connected to photography, a medium that serves as a text for exploring and documenting the American experience by bearing witness. I see my bodies of work, for which I use film and digital full frame cameras, as profoundly rooted in compassion, dignity, and love for mankind and the planet. Projects are built on deep and collaborative relationships with my subjects, buttressed by curiosity, joy, and never judgment. My own experiences as a first-generation American facing questions of belonging and identity directly informs my deep desire to explore the soul of our nation – found in its animals, buildings, nature, people, and more. My work serves as a starting point, sparking broader conversations to hopefully deepen connection and understanding in a time of manufactured polarization. 

Nicholas Ioan Lazaroae Project Statement

"The Nation My Father Dreamed Of"

America is an idea. America is a promise. America is a challenge. And, America is a warning. We are the Earth’s preeminent superpower and we use our power to apply the architecture of oppression abroad; like every imperial project in decline, America has brought the same brutality and ruthlessness home to roost. Our nation’s murderous war industry and repressive domestic security apparatus is unlike any in world history. For decades, the undermining of our national psyche through a culture of consumerism, the celebration of cruelty, and the virus of prejudice has eroded empathy, equity, and compassion for our fellow citizens. 

My photographic work on display at We The People explores the material contradictions that have risen from years of a concerted effort by our leaders and the language of corporatized popular culture to divide and suppress. Stark monochromatic imagery gives way to deliberate flashes of color, meant to invoke more questions than answers. 

My work does not seek to resolve the inherent tension found in each image and instead bears witness to the range of experiences that define America in 2026: A woman kneels shortly before getting tear gassed in front of the White House during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. Hispanic immigrants, some undocumented, walk in the Way of Sorrows on Easter in Ogden, Utah. Young people, also in Ogden, participate in a 2025 No Kings protest, with placards that presage a growing pre-revolutionary tension. A homeless man lies covered on a bench, his belongings in a trash bag under him, in the imperial capital, Washington, DC. Protestors lash out as the Stratos data center is approved at a county commission meeting where public comment was entirely restricted in Box Elder County, Utah. A young cowboy, whose family ranch on the shore of Great Salt Lake will almost certainly be barren due to climate change, ruminates in the saddle at a rodeo. Another boy, similar in age to the cowboy, prays during Eid at the Khadeeja Islamic Center in West Valley City, Utah. Each person shown, in their own way, lives their own American story. Their material conditions are a canary in a coal mine; as the suffering endures, the images become a plea. If we have humanity, we do not look away.

The greatest danger to the future of our society is apathy. Only by looking into the eyes and lives of Americans -- all Americans -- can we begin to understand. Through a deeper understanding of our fellow citizens, we can begin to care. By caring equally about each of us we can create the conditions to help. By choosing to help one another, we can banish the forces of apathy, and we might just gain the capacity to transform into a More Perfect Union. 

My father, a shepherd from a small village in the Transylvanian Alps, immigrated to America in 1996. As a young man living under the jackboot of tyranny in communist România, the United States represented a new world of endless possibility and boundless progress, where all are welcome and can contribute to civic life. Bogdan Constantin Lazaroae gained citizenship in September of 2000. His sentiments still ring true in 2026, but we cannot have hope if we cannot see reality. 

I am the grateful son of an immigrant who left injustice and poverty to come to the United States. He sacrificed his dreams so that I could fulfill mine. I am proud to be an American. Thank you. E Pluribus Unum. 

Signed, limited-edition prints are available for purchase. Please contact me at [email protected] or instagram.com/nlazaroae for pricing.