When I first saw freelance photographer Maddie McGarvey’s work in The New York Times and Washington Post, I was blown away. So was my Story in the Public Square co-host Jim Ludes. As we dug deeper into her work covering national elections, women’s marches, and other political events, we knew we had to bring her onto the program.

And that was before we found her stunning photographs of Rust Belt residents who are facing economic hardship, the opioid crisis, and the demise of the traditional nuclear family – not to mention her remarkable artistic portraits.  

 So meet Maddie McGarvey, selected in 2015 as one of Magnum’s 30 Photographers under 30, and named the next year as one of TIME's 51 Instagram Photographers to follow in the USA.

This is an audio version of a broadcast of the Story in the Public Square TV and Sirius/XM Satellite radio program, recorded in the studios of Rhode Island PBS and hosted by me, G. Wayne Miller, and Jim Ludes of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. Story in the Public Square is a partnership of the Pell Center and The Providence Journal. For more, visitprovidencejournal.com or pellcenter.org