About
Defenders of Democracy
Defenders of Democracy is a portrait exhibition and forthcoming book by photojournalist and documentary filmmaker John Kaul, honoring individuals who demonstrated moral, political, or physical courage in defense of democratic principles during a period of national instability.
Over three years, Kaul has traveled the country to sit with diplomats, elected officials, journalists, law enforcement officers, military leaders, and public intellectuals: people who, when faced with a choice between comfort and conscience, chose to speak, act, or testify. Many did so at real personal and professional cost, including careers ended, friendships severed, and threats received. Defenders of Democracy is their record.
This is not a partisan project. It is a project about character, about what it looks like when an individual decides that an oath, a principle, or a fact is worth more than their own security. The exhibition asks viewers to sit with a simple but uncomfortable question: what would you have done?
Why This Work Matters
Democracies are not sustained by institutions alone. They are sustained by people, often ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances, who refuse to look away. The subjects of this exhibition include career diplomats who testified against political pressure, police officers who defended the Capitol under attack, elected officials who broke from their own party rather than their principles, and public servants who chose disclosure over silence.
Defenders of Democracy exists to make that courage visible, specific, and human. Each portrait is paired with the story behind it: the moment of decision, the cost, and what came after. Together, the series builds a visual record of civic responsibility, a reminder that the health of a constitutional democracy depends on individuals willing to defend it, one decision at a time.
The project is not a commercial venture. Net proceeds are directed through Kaul's affiliated 501(c)(3), administered via the Minneapolis Foundation, in support of continued public engagement and civic education.
List of All Defenders
Anne Applebaum
John Bolton
Rusty Bowers
Arne Carlson
Liz Cheney
Ty Cobb
George Conway
Sharon Day
Harry Dunn
Dave Durenberger
Norm Eisen
Gabby Giffords
Aquilino Gonell
Mark Hertling
Fiona Hill
Danny Hodges
Melissa and Mark Hortman
Heidi Inman
Josie Johnson
Osman Kabuye
Kerry Kennedy
George and Velida Kent
Safia Khan
Adam Kinzinger
Bill Kristol
Sarah Longwell
Michael Luttig
Michael McFaul
Barbara McQuade
Tim Miller
Khris Nedam
Beto O'Rourke
Liz Oyer
Valerie Plame
Marc Racicot & Dorothy Bradley
Jamie Raskin
Claudia Schmidt
Rick Steves
Charles Sykes
Miles Taylor
Jon Tester
Olivia Troye
Jonathan Victor
Alexander Vindman
Joe Walsh
Tim Walz
Gretchen Whitmer
Rick Wilson
Ross Wilson
Marie Yovanovitch
Mark Zaid
The Artist
John Kaul is a multidisciplinary artist and documentary filmmaker whose work spans photography, film, kinetic sculpture, and public interest storytelling. His visual practice has been exhibited widely, including early kinetic sculpture installations at the Lesch Gallery in Butler Square and photography exhibitions most recently at Norway House in 2020, work that led to a featured appearance on Twin Cities PBS's Almanac.
Kaul has produced and co-produced several documentary films in partnership with Twin Cities PBS, including The Wild and Scenic St. Croix (2018), made with the St. Croix River Association and photographer Craig Blacklock to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act; Rebirth: The Mississippi's National Park (2016), produced with Friends of the Mississippi River; and Madeline Island and the Art of the String Quartet (2015). All three continue to air nationally through TPT.
His photographic work has also formed the foundation of longer form projects, including a portrait exhibition of Indigenous Women Water Protectors, currently being developed into a book by Afton Press.
Drawing on decades of experience in public policy at the Minnesota State Capitol, Kaul brings a distinct vantage point to this work, that of someone who has watched democratic institutions function, strain, and hold from the inside. Defenders of Democracy is the natural extension of that career: a body of work devoted to documenting civic courage and democratic responsibility at a moment when both are being tested.