A Minnesota Capitol lobbyist who spent decades working the halls of St. Paul politics has turned his camera on a different kind of political figure — Americans who chose principle over party. John Kaul's exhibition, Defenders of Democracy, features 50 portraits of people who took personal and professional risks to defend democratic institutions and the rule of law, and it opens at the DC Arts Center in Washington, D.C.
The exhibition, held at 2438 18th St NW, includes photographic portraits and stories honoring Americans who chose civic duty over political faction, according to the event listing on luma.com. A panel discussion is set for 4 p.m. Saturday, featuring Ty Cobb, Liz Oyer and George Conway, moderated by Bill Kristol — all three panelists are also subjects included in Kaul's broader portrait project, according to Pioneer Press.
Kaul, 79, worked as a Minnesota Capitol lobbyist and staffer for 48 years, per the same account.
An Idea Born Watching Impeachment Hearings
Kaul began the Defenders of Democracy project after watching the U.S. House impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump in 2019, the article notes. Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled from her post that year and called to testify during those proceedings, became the portrait that launched the entire project. Kaul contacted Yovanovitch, who had served in the Foreign Service for 33 years and was named ambassador to Ukraine in 2016, and flew to Washington in October 2022 to interview and photograph her.
Kaul has described the project as honoring people of courage. He begins each subject meeting with an interview before photographing them, typically using a Canon EOS R5 camera with an 85mm f/1.2 lens.
Crossing the Country, One Subject at a Time
Since 2022, Kaul has traveled around the United States to interview and photograph subjects, visiting California, Texas, Florida, Michigan and Arizona and making more than 10 trips to Washington, D.C., alone, according to the same reporting. The finished collection features John Bolton, Liz Oyer, Ty Cobb, Bill Kristol, George Conway, Beto O'Rourke, Adam Kinzinger, Gabby Giffords, Mark Hertling, Harry Dunn, Danny Hodges, Fiona Hill and Miles Taylor.
Giffords, who survived a 2011 assassination attempt in Tucson, Arizona, and now leads an organization dedicated to saving lives from gun violence, is among the subjects. Kaul also interviewed and photographed lawyer, author and human-rights activist Mary Kerry Kennedy in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, last July, as well as Valerie Plame in rural New Mexico, the outlet reports.
Three Minnesotans in the Mix
The exhibition features three Minnesotans.
Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, appear together in a 2019 photograph.
Friends set up a fund through the Minneapolis Foundation to support the project, according to the Pioneer Press reporting. Kaul's move into large-scale documentary portraiture builds on earlier work; his 2024 exhibition, “Philately Meets Portraiture,” combined portraits, stamps and quotations and was displayed at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis, as previously reported by twincities.com. At the time, Kaul had produced envelope art.
