An idea about profiling voters across Wisconsin turned into a multi-year project for Wisconsin Watch photojournalist Joe Timmerman – one focused on connection.
The Public Square series launched in November 2024, and so far includes 10 stories about regular Wisconsin residents working to build community in the towns and cities they call home.
“Instead of just focusing on politics, we really wanted to focus on community and where people were coming together,” Timmerman said.
To showcase the images and celebrate the project, Wisconsin Watch partnered with the city of Green Bay, the Astor Neighborhood Association, Catchlight Local and Report for America to host an outdoor photo exhibition on Saturday, June 6 at St. James Park in Green Bay. The display will be available for a short time at the park for community members to visit.
Roughly 45 people attended the event on Saturday, walking among the posters of images, reading summaries of the stories and listening to a panel discussion about the series. Timmerman moderated the event, asking questions of four northeastern Wisconsin residents who participated in Public Square.
Below, we recap the panel discussion, highlighting a few of the panelists’ answers for each question. Be sure to check out all 10 stories in the Public Square series, which included people who live across the state.
How do you think your story fits into Public Square?
The students and staff who keep the Pulaski News in print embody the mission of the series, said Madelyn Rybak, a recent Pulaski High School graduate who wrote for the Pulaski News.
“We really are the only major source of news in the village of Pulaski, so I think that through writing for the Pulaski News, we really do our part in ensuring that the community really knows their neighbor,” she said.
So too, does Third Space Green Bay, said co-founder Ivy McGee. The nonprofit organization aims to create an environment where people can make connections, particularly people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community who move to Green Bay.
“I was kind of naive to the fact that people that are coming into this community really don’t feel that connection, and it’s a hard community to kind of come into,” she said.
What was it like being interviewed and photographed for the series?
Paula Jolly, executive director and co-founder of Amanda’s House, said she usually isn’t comfortable doing interviews and being photographed by journalists. But with Timmerman, the experience was different.
“He took his time, and he cared, and it just really made it a lot easier,” Jolly said.
Part of it, she said, had to do with the equipment Timmerman chose to make the photographs. He used a twin-lens reflex camera circa 1950 and medium format film; it meant he had to take his time.
Timmerman visited each subject for Public Square multiple times and spent hours with them – talking to them, observing how they went about their days and seeing them inhabit their spaces.
The process allowed McGee and her co-creators to “slow down and take a breath.”
What was it like seeing your stories published?
A friend reached out to Laurie Doxtator after her photo appeared on the front page of a local newspaper (Wisconsin Watch allows media outlets to republish its stories free of charge). Timmerman met Doxtator when she was living at Amanda’s House. She allowed him to document her journey moving out of the sober living home.
“This was my story that I told,” Doxtator said.
Similarly, Jolly said she sits for interviews to help community members better understand addiction, including how it affects people and their families.
However, she was surprised to hear from people outside northeast Wisconsin who saw the story.
“I didn’t realize it was going to the rest of the state,” she said. “Somebody from, I think, Milwaukee said, ‘Oh, I saw your article.’ I was like, ‘What? Really?’ It was kind of fun, but it also gets the word out in a wider area, so that’s important.”
Rybak spoke about the important role journalism plays in making people be seen and heard.
“It felt so nice to just have a spotlight shown and to know what I did mattered to people,” she said.
Once the feature on Third Space Green Bay was published, McGee said she continued to follow the series.
“I was more connected to the community through the storytelling,” she said.
How have each of you, your organizations or your communities grown, changed or developed since the time these images were taken?
Since Doxtator moved out of Amanda’s House, she continued her sobriety and cut her hair.
“I’m still here and still growing,” she said. “Every day is a different day.”
The Public Square feature on Amanda’s House “opened up a lot more opportunities for us, just getting the word out there and helping people,” Jolly said.
Third Space Green Bay now has a physical space, which the organization leases through The Art Garage. The co-creators are still looking for a permanent space to call their own.
“There’s so many reasons why Third Space Green Bay is important, and why it exists, and why we want to continue to be a space to offer folks to come and connect, or just be,” McGee said.
The organization also started “Third Thursdays with Third Space” – monthly, themed events designed to “build connection, promote collective well-being and celebrate the creativity and resilience of BIPOC and queer communities in Green Bay.”
As for the Pulaski News, the publication was featured in myriad news stories and received a $5,000 grant from the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation. Rybak said more students are interested in writing for the newspaper, as well.
“For a very small student-run publication like us, it (the donation) is huge,” Rybak said. “That was such a great feeling to know that my work was a tiny part of that, and I feel so grateful for the opportunity we had with Wisconsin Watch, just to get our word out there.”
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