Philly photographer paperwork greater than 50 years of activism

In 1966, Joe Piette obtained a draft discover from the United States authorities. After coaching, he was despatched to Vietnam to combat towards what his commanding officers known as the ‘heartless enemy.’

Piette knew one thing was incorrect. From the again of a army truck, driving between U.S. bases, Piette watched a Vietnamese funeral procession. They chanted hymns, performed devices and displayed extra emotion than Piette had ever seen again residence.

“It was an eye-opening moment for me,” Piette mentioned. “It showed we are on the wrong side, I was on the wrong side. I was a part of this killing machine for a country that doesn’t care how many people they kill.” 

Piette introduced a digital camera and took images from the airplanes. He documented the deforestation within the Vietnamese jungles attributable to Agent Orange, a mixture of herbicides that resulted in long-lasting start and well being defects, most cancers and loss of life in Vietnamese individuals and U.S. troopers.

Since then, Piette has photographed lots of of demonstrations like justice in Sudan and Congo, anti-U.S. intervention, employee strikes, anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement rallies, and anti-Day & Zimmerman actions, an ammunitions provider with places of work positioned in Philadelphia. Inspired to commit to resistance and justice, Piette continues to doc effectively into his 70s.

Piette has additionally documented quite a few Temple rallies, together with a Students for Justice in Palestine march in 2024, the Dis-Orientation Rally in September 2025 and the Walkout Protest towards ICE on March 11. Piette’s work is on show at TILT Gallery’s “How We Stay Free” present between April 9 to June 27. 

Piette is a part of the Philly Movement Photographers, a collective of activist photographers and videographers that doc socio-political actions in Philadelphia.

“We are activists who are taking part in these movements that we believe in,” mentioned Mike Arrison, a PMP member. “We are using our talents as photographers to help the movement.”

In Piette’s and his colleagues’ expertise, motion pictures can coincide with direct concentrating on. During the BLM protests in 2020, a Philadelphia Police officer shot a rubber bullet into the lens of Piette’s digital camera.  

“If documenting wasn’t important, they wouldn’t be shooting at us,” Piette mentioned.

In the early 70s, anti-war activists and Palestinian individuals rode a bus from Buffalo to Albany, New York to protest an Israeli speaker on the University of Albany.  On the bus, they shared songs backwards and forwards. 

When it got here time for the Palestinians to affix in on the pacifists’ track, “Ain’t Gotta Study War No More,” they wouldn’t sing.

“They explained that they’re being killed, being displaced from their land, they’re occupied violently every day, so they have to study war,” Piette mentioned. “They have no choice, they have to try to stop the Israeli military.”  

That taught Piette a lesson: though he didn’t assist the U.S. army, that didn’t imply he was towards all militaries.

Jackson Kusiak, a 3rd 12 months Beasley School of Law pupil, is an organizer throughout the Human Rights Coalition, a corporation began by political prisoners and their households to combat for humane circumstances inside prisons. The group has used a lot of Piette’s pictures on their web site. 

“Joe carries a really positive attitude in a lot of crazy situations,” Kusiak mentioned. “In a protest situation where there are serious issues that are being talked about on the microphone, distressing world events or police brutality that he’s documenting, he stays calm. He’s always happy to see folks and inviting people into various organization’s meetings.”

Piette makes use of pictures to make sure actions keep alive and proceed rising.

“If the censorship makes it so most people don’t know what happens then they’re losing the sense that there’s a movement,” Piette mentioned. “If they see photos of the protest, then they know they’re not alone. And they may decide after seeing the protest, ‘Well, I’m gonna go to the next one.’ So, it helps build awareness, not just that there’s a protest, but what those issues are.”