Gerry Courtney

Gerry Courtney is the author of the photography book Love Letters to trump (2018).

Love Letters to trump chronicles the anti trump demonstrations that begin with the SF Women’s March of 2107 and concludes with the Family Separation March of 2018. This is a photographic essay that allows the posters people carried to push the narrative of this time in history. I selected the banners based on informative statements, creative art, and humor. As the readers turn the pages, they will be informed, inspired and get a few chuckles. In short, Love Letters to trump is a salute to the brave people of the Bay Area who took the time to exercise their First Amendment rights like many who proceeded them.

I was raised in a violent section of Detroit, Michigan. As a child I wasn’t allowed out of my backyard. At age seven, my uncle gave me an old 35 mm camera. It was in my backyard where I learned to be a photographer. At the same time, my Uncle took me to my first political protests. I’ve been an active participant ever since –  from the Civil Rights Movement to Anti trump demonstrations and everything in between.

I lived in San Francisco for the past 39 years as an educator, photographer, husband, parent, neighbor, and citizen. I view Love Letters to trump as a celebration of my photography and activism on a personal level, and paying homage to a city that has nurtured thinkers who have been willing to resist when democracy and civil rights are threatened on a social level.