Local photographers Kirth Bobb and Geoff Livingston have teamed up on a project to share the stories of people impacted directly by the government shutdown. The Shutdown Stories Project is a photographic essay of 21 real people – 21 of 800,000 workers – affected by the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Federal workers have become unwilling pawns in the shutdown. The media and certain politicians relegate these individuals as a blind number, “800,000 federal workers.”

Kirth and Geoff spent an afternoon photographing affected federal employees at the Creative Hands Studio in order to show their stories and illustrate that federal workers are real people trying to make ends meet and serve our country. You can view the full project at shutdownstory.com, including coverage of the project by WUSA-9.

Kirth and Geoff are both Exposed alum and will be a part of the 2019 annual exhibition as well.