A Peace of My Mind

Remote portraits

August 5, 2020 by johnnoltner

I was pretty sure it wasn’t possible. My client asked me if I could do a series of remote portraits for him and I asked, “What’s that?” Well, hang on…let me back up a little bit. I was supposed to travel to D.C. this spring to produce a series of portraits and stories for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network. They were spearheading an effort to lobby members of congress to fund research for treatment of lymphatic disease, a condition […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: Lymphatic disease

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Cry Out

July 30, 2020 by johnnoltner

By now, you may have heard that A Peace of My Mind has launched a crowdfunding campaign. Cry Out: Voices calling for radical love and justice in a broken world. It’s time to gather new stories. But I’ll need your help. Our goal is to amplify the voices of people working at the leading edge of our most difficult challenges. Race, immigration, poverty and more. It’s time to interview people on the ground, working for change. We want to celebrate […]

Categories: Uncategorized

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Making peace (signs)

July 19, 2020 by johnnoltner

The first day I went to Chicago and 38th—the site where George Floyd was killed—I didn’t bring my cameras. I went to see it, to be in the space, to bear witness and to learn. As I walked toward the site, I passed a lilac bush toward the end of its bloom. Light purple blossoms covered the ground and I bent down to gather a few handfuls and filled my pockets. At the very spot where George Floyd’s life had […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: peace

Read, watch, listen

July 13, 2020 by johnnoltner

You’ve seen the lists all over social media, but have you started working your way through them? I’m currently reading Layla F. Saad’s Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. Last night, I watched I Am Not Your Negro. I’d been familiar with James Baldwin’s work for years, but those 90 minutes put it all in a context that helped me see it in new ways. Sometimes I’m looking for straight up documentary and […]

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The third of July

July 3, 2020 by johnnoltner

This year we have no plans for picnics. No fireworks. No parades or crowds or trips to the beach. It’s a different kind of year. We’ll stay home. Do some reading. Get a few projects done. Mow 20 acres of Christmas tree fields at our farm. When you mow 20 acres, you have plenty of time to think. This weekend I expect I will continue to think about what Independence Day means in 2020. What is independence? Freedom? How do […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: 4th of july, a peace of my mind, frederick douglass, independence day, npr, race, storytelling

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I can hear the streets talking

June 29, 2020 by johnnoltner

Public projection from John Noltner Photography on Vimeo. For 10 nights, we projected the stories we gathered from the George Floyd memorial. We amplified the voices of the people we encountered. We projected their portraits 20’ x 30’ on the side of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. And we climbed down off the rooftop to have conversations with the people who stopped to look. For me, it was a way to share the stories publicly in an immediate and […]

Categories: Blog, Uncategorized • Tags: George Floyd, Minneapolis, photography, portrait photography, projection, public art, stories

This is my why

June 20, 2020 by johnnoltner

It’s hard to wait for the sun to go down when you are setting up your first public art projection. In Minneapolis on June 19, the sun sets at 9:03pm. But at 9:03 there was still so much ambient light in the sky that I could barely make out an image on the wall. At 9:10, Lance from Channel 5 news showed up with a camera and I wished I could will the earth to spin just a little bit […]

Categories: Blog • Tags: George Floyd, John Noltner, justice, Minneapolis, peace, photographer, projection, public art, storytelling

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George Floyd

June 11, 2020 by johnnoltner

George Floyd from John Noltner Photography on Vimeo. A Peace of My Mind visited 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis after the police killing of George Floyd and asked, “What do you want to say?” Music by JoeDavisPoetry.com

Categories: Blog • Tags: Black Lives Matter, blm, documentary photography, George Floyd, Minneapolis, Police reform, storytelling

Maybe this time

June 3, 2020 by johnnoltner

On Monday May 25, George Floyd was killed by police at the intersection of 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis. Because the COVID-9 pandemic had caused all my programming to be cancelled, I happened to be at home, 11.6 miles to the south. On Wednesday I went to see the site where a small memorial was taking shape and on Thursday returned with an improvised portable studio, a broken heart, and one simple question: “What do you want to say?” Over […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: a peace of my mind, Black Lives Matter, blm, change, George Floyd, justice, Minneapolis, photography, protest, race

We are hungry

June 1, 2020 by johnnoltner

We are all hungry for some good news right now. Seek it out. Celebrate it. Use it as our true north and let it lead the way. But don’t turn away from the pain. Don’t dismiss the grief in some rush to return to feeling better. Lament. Sit with it. Wrestle with it. And use it to fuel a commitment to create real and lasting change. Authentic healing. A more just world. From the bottom up. I’m out of words […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: a peace of my mind, Black Lives Matter, George Floyd, Minneapolis, storytelling

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A Peace of My Mind

Building community and bridging divides through portraits and personal stories.

what does peace mean to you?

Remote portraits

Cry Out

Making peace (signs)

Read, watch, listen

The third of July

I can hear the streets talking

This is my why

George Floyd

Maybe this time

We are hungry