W&L’s Staniar Gallery Presents ‘Locating the Law: Places of German Constitutional History’ The photography exhibition will run from Sept. 4 through Oct. 31, with a panel discussion on Oct. 22.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
September 11, 2025

Washington and Lee University’s Staniar Gallery is pleased to present “Locating the Law: Places of German Constitutional History,” an exhibition by German photographer Alexander Telesniuk. The exhibit opened Sept. 4 and will run through Oct. 31 in Lykes Atrium in Wilson Hall. A panel discussion is slated for 4 p.m. Oct. 22, followed by a reception. Panelists will include Telesniuk; Russell Miller, the J.B. Stombock Professor of Law at W&L; Kish Parella, the Class of 1960 Professor of Ethics and Law at W&L; and Richard Wetzell, a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C.

The exhibition and reception events are free and open to the public.

“Locating the Law” is adapted from the book “Verfassungorte (Constitutional Places),” co-authored by Miller and the Foundation for the Places of the History of German Democracy’s Markus Lang and Kai-Michael Sprenger and considers how democracy is rooted not only in legal texts but also in physical spaces and collective memory.

“Locating the Law” invites viewers to explore the physical and symbolic places in which Germany’s democratic and constitutional identity has taken shape over the centuries — from medieval cathedrals and Enlightenment-era town halls to postwar courthouses and modern office buildings. Telesniuk’s photographs remind us that building and upholding a constitutional society takes sustained effort from all parts of the community.

The exhibition also considers how architecture, ritual and location anchor democratic values in public memory and everyday life. At a time of growing global concern about the future of democracy, the exhibition reminds us that constitutions are more than written texts. They are living commitments, grounded in places and sustained by the people who inhabit them.

Organized by Miller and curated by John Gregory, a photography student at Virginia Commonwealth University, “Locating the Law” is supported by the German Law Journal (Miller is a founding editor), W&L’s Frances Lewis Law Center, the Class of 1963 Scholars in Residence Fund, the Department of History, the Department of Art and Art History, the Department of German and the Law, Justice and Society Program.

For more information about the 2025-26 exhibition and programming schedule, visit Staniar Gallery’s website.

Staniar Gallery is located on the second floor of Wilson Hall, in Washington and Lee University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts. When the campus is open to the public, gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please call 540-458-8861.