jeremiah ariaz
the fourth estate in the heart of america
ARTIST STATEMENT
The Fourth Estate features newspaper offices across my home state of Kansas (USA). The photographs celebrate the civic function, labor, and technology at the heart of local journalism, while also documenting an industry under threat, as are the ideals of democracy that the industry upholds.
The U.S. is losing an average of two newspapers a week; a third of the nation’s papers have closed in the last 15 years. In that time, the number of working journalists has fallen by more than half. How do we comprehend this loss and its implications for our country?
With alarming expediency, the fourth estate has been exiled from small-town America, leaving only powerful national voices and less room for civic discourse or accountability. A 2019 PEN America study concluded: “as local journalism declines, government officials conduct themselves with less integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and corporate malfeasance goes unchecked... citizens are: less likely to vote, less politically informed, and less likely to run for office.” In other words, Democracy loses its foundation.
Kansas lies at the precipice of the nation’s news desert, at its most arid across the Western half of the country. Since 2022 I have photographed over 100 newspaper offices. These images are both an ode and an elegy, a collective portrait of my home state and a representation of community newspapers nationwide.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jeremiah Ariaz received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and MFA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His photographs examine the constructs of American identity within personal, community, and political contexts.
Ariaz is a recipient of numerous awards and grants, including an ATLAS grant, the Michael P. Smith Award for Documentary Photography from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the 2018 South Arts Finalist Prize and he was named the 2018 Louisiana State Fellow. His photographs have been featured in publications including Oxford American, The Paris Review, and The New York Times. His writing has been published in the Symphony in the Flint Hills Field Journal, Southern Cultures, and The Washington Post. This year, 2026, he was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship.
His photographs have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally. He has been a professor of art at Louisiana State University since 2006.
This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from Justin Tyler Bryant and Kristine Thompson. All works from these artists are on view, free of charge, during regular gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m., Tue - Sun) from May 1 - 24, 2026.