It's Not The Wind

© Jordan Conway - A Trump 2024 flag set on fire at "anarchist beach" in Oregon. © Jordan Conway - A gate on the US / Mexico border wall locked shut during sunset. © Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project View all images ↓
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Exploring the relationship between self-autonomy and the uncontrollable conditions of America’s current political and social landscape.

In this currently ongoing project, I am interested in the relationship between self-autonomy and the uncontrollable conditions of America’s current political and social landscape. From forest defenders in Atlanta, to the militarized conditions of the Texas - Mexico border, the various stories and subjects I have photographed are in dialogue with one another, speaking to an existential pressure increasingly felt and visibly seen in the US. Informing the way by which I have been approaching this subject matter has been Leonard Cohen’s 1967 song “The Store Room”. In the opening lines, he sings;

“It's not the wind that keeps you up, it's not the snow

It's not the moon coming like a headlight through your window

It's not the thumbnail of a screen that scrapes away your dream

It's just this man taking what he needs from the store room”

The song speaks to a discontentment and numbness to the world’s conditions, and an obsession with the abstract thoughts of a person taking and doing what they wish by unconventional means. As America’s political landscape and societal harmony collapses, the message of this song becomes increasingly familiar. The individuals in my photos often self-identify as anarchists, abolitionists, and antifascists, openly rejecting America as a concept and experiment.

This project is a candidate for PhMuseum 2026 Photography Grant

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© Jordan Conway - A Trump 2024 flag set on fire at "anarchist beach" in Oregon.
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A Trump 2024 flag set on fire at "anarchist beach" in Oregon.

© Jordan Conway - A gate on the US / Mexico border wall locked shut during sunset.
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A gate on the US / Mexico border wall locked shut during sunset.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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A flatbed truck that sat at the entrance to the Weelaunee forest defense in Atlanta, Georgia. One morning when the truck pulled in attempting to tow vehicles parked near the forest defense, the driver was promptly chased away by militant activists, and the truck he arrived in then smashed and set on fire. Forest defenders then painted messages, and planted a willow tree in the cabin.

© Jordan Conway - A shooting target at a gun pit frequented by leftists.
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A shooting target at a gun pit frequented by leftists.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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In the mountains of Washington, a person sits and watches as the northern lights shine above, a rare and unprecedented event in the southern Washington forests.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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Abandoned belongings of immigrants along the shore of the Rio Grande river in Eagle Pass, Texas, which sits directly across from the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila (Mexico). The cloths have been flattened into the mud and dirt by the the frequent passing of border patrol and national guard vehicles driving over them.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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A barricade erected by anonymous forest defenders in Atlanta, Georgia in an attempt to prevent the clear-cutting of the Weelaunee forest and construction of a police training compound named "cop city".

© Jordan Conway - An anonymous antifascist photographed near their home in a small, California town in the desert.
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An anonymous antifascist photographed near their home in a small, California town in the desert.

© Jordan Conway - A dust jacket on an AR15 which reads "No War" on one side, and "Class War" on the other.
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A dust jacket on an AR15 which reads "No War" on one side, and "Class War" on the other.

© Jordan Conway - A pro-border patrol protester near the US / Mexico border.
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A pro-border patrol protester near the US / Mexico border.

© Jordan Conway - US / Mexico border at sunset in Texas.
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US / Mexico border at sunset in Texas.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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An anonymous forest defender in rural southern Oregon helps to guide a platform being raised high up into the branches of an old growth tree. Another forest defender over 100 feet up in the tree, anchors the platform to begin an indefinite tree-sit to protect the tree from planned logging.

© Jordan Conway - A truck flying the American flag passes by a ranch in rural Texas hosting a Christian Nationalist rally.
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A truck flying the American flag passes by a ranch in rural Texas hosting a Christian Nationalist rally.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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Federal agents tackle and arrests protesters outside of the ICE facility in Portland, OR. Blood is visible on the head of one of the protesters.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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The surviellence cameras at the Midtown New York Hilton which captured the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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During elections in 2024, multiple ballot boxes were targeted in arson attacks. This ballot box in Vancouver, WA resulted in the destruction of all ballots within it.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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Firearms instructor and influencer "Tacticool Girlfriend", who's content helps trans / queer / leftists folks feel more comfortable owning and training firearms.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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One anarchist helps another to cover their eyebrows as they put on black bloc, which is nondescript, all black clothing worn to conceal one's identity.

© Jordan Conway - While documenting a protest at the ICE facility in Portland, OR, I was targeted and shot with a rubber bullet.
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While documenting a protest at the ICE facility in Portland, OR, I was targeted and shot with a rubber bullet.

© Jordan Conway - Image from the It's Not The Wind photography project
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Vincent, a 55 year old ER nurse, was shot in the eye with a "less-lethal" munition while peacefully protesting outside of the ICE facility in Portland, OR.

It's Not The Wind by Jordan Conway

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