“What
does democracy
mean?” It’s one
of those exasperating questions, like
“what is art?” Both questions remind
you that the dictionary definition is
less a comprehensive explanation than
a placeholder for centuries-old debates.
Photographer Andrea Bruce was
asked the first question in 2003 by a
woman who was working as a prosti-
tute in Iraq to support her children after
her husband was killed by a bomb.
“My answer had to do with the Bill
of Rights, and it made no sense to her
whatsoever,” says Bruce. She had been
assigned to cover the war in Iraq and
its impact on civilians as a staff photog-
rapher for The Washington Post. Dur-
ing the following years that took her
to conflict zones across the globe, that
question about democracy would con-
tinue to dog her.Bruce left the Post as a staff photogra-
pher in 2009 to gain more flexibility to
take on long-term projects. Her work
has been carried by outlets ranging
from The New York Times and National
Geographic to the photojournalism col-
lectives VII and NOOR, the latter of
which she currently belongs to.
Her photographs have earned numer-
ous accolades, including the Overseas
Press Club John Faber Award and several
Pictures of the Year International awards,
and the White House News Photogra-
phers Association named her Photogra-
pher of the Year four times. Bruce has
also received two awards named for fel-
low conflict photographers who lost their
lives on the job: the 2018 Anja Niedring-
haus Courage in Photojournalism Award
and the 2012 inaugural Chris Hondros
Fund Award for the “commitment, will-
ingness and sacrifice shown in her work.”Her work is also marked by the
empathy she brings to her subjects, as
well as a determination not to turn away
from hard truths, no matter how ugly
or mundane. She has photographed the
violence of war, prostitutes at work and
girls being subjected to female genital
mutilation. She traveled to India, Viet-
nam and Haiti to cover a vital issue that
may be the most unglamorous subject
known to photojournalism—sanitationOne factor in the idea of democracy is
the changing state of the working class.
Buchanan County, on the farthest west corner
of Virginia, is home to the highest number
of Trump supporters in the United States,
mostly due to the president's promises to
the coal industry. In recent months, the coal
industry has picked up. But many in the
county who rely heavily on federal help are
worried about the president's promises to cut
benefits, including health care.