Thursday, September 3, 2026
Doors at 5:30pm. Artist talk at 6pm.
25 Dederick Street, Kingston, NY
On Thursday, September 3, we welcome Robert Kalman to “Meet the Artist”. After January 6th, documentary portrait photographer Robert Kalman began approaching everyday Americans across the country, asking them, “What’s it like for you to be an American?” while offering to make their portrait using a large-format, eight-by-ten inch view camera. He also invited each person to write an answer to the question on a single notebook page. Their handwritten responses proved to be a mix of sincere, emotional expressions: pride, an acknowledged sense of privilege, anger, frustration, gratitude, deep ambivalence, even shame.
Now, after a four-year, 20,000-mile journey, and the creation of nearly 500 portraits and written responses, Robert has published this significant, documentary work in a photo book collection of 76 diptychs entitled, What’s it like for you to be an American?
Kalman states, “From its inception, this book of portraits and statements has been about discovering what holds us together as a people even in a time of serious discord. It’s about learning how the concept of e pluribus unum – out of many, one – still exists in today’s America. I believe the portraits and the portrait subjects’ words will lead us back to understanding the wisdom of that ideal. In the end, the people whom I included in this book are people just like you.”
His presentation – a book talk, demonstration, and interactive experience – will include:
• A demonstration of how the portraits were made using the 8×10, inviting one audience member to pose, and answer the question about what it’s like to be an American. That person will receive a print of their portrait.
• An invitation for every person in attendance to express what it’s like for them to be an American. All audience members will receive a keepsake as a memento of their participation.
• The history of Kalman’s four-year journey in four minutes, including how the book was created.
• The viewing of a dozen prints from the book, including an explanation about the intriguing backstory about each picture.
• Audience members will be allowed to handle and view the prints firsthand, and to leaf through the notebooks containing the thoughts and feelings of nearly 500 fellow Americans.
• Q & A, followed by an opportunity to purchase a personalized, signed copy of the book.
Robert will have copies of What’s it like for you to be an American? available for sale throughout the evening.
Join us on select Thursday evenings at CPW, when we host illuminating talks with local and visiting artists. “Meet the Artist” allows the public to get to know new work, to hear about artistic processes, and to meet friends and other local artists. The evening takes place at CPW’s gallery at 25 Dederick Street in Kingston, NY. It is free and open to the public. Coffee, tea, and snacks are served.
“Meet the Artist” is made possible by generous grants from the Arnold & Augusta Newman Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Robert Kalman is a documentary portrait photographer whose career spans over forty years. His work has appeared in countless publications, solo exhibitions, and juried shows throughout the United States. He has authored a dozen photo books on a variety of topics including Nicaraguan villagers, members of the lesbian and trans communities, indigenous people in Panama, Confederate monuments, interracial couples, New York dog owners, and Europeans. For the past five years he has been working on a photo book about American self-identity, entitled What’s it like for you to be an American? which is now available in hardcover.
Images © Robert Kalman