An exhibit organized by the Department of Visual & Media Arts, “UNSCRIPTED: A Photo Student Group Show,” wrapped up today.
The Padnos Gallery exhibit, curated by Professor Mahsa Alafar and two students, featured photography from over 100 GVSU students in the Calder Arts Center. The show, which opened last Wednesday, aimed to feature projects across varying degrees of experience, from the darkroom to studio photography. The Padnos Gallery provides students with opportunities to showcase their work to friends, family and strangers in a collective space.
Many courses in the Photography Program were represented in the comprehensive exhibit. Classes included were Digital Photography, Darkroom Photography, Intermediate Photography, Color Photography, Studio Photography I & II, History of Photography I & II, Alternative Printing Processes, Classic 4×5 Photography, The Social Eye, Advanced Problems, Advanced Digital Photography and Experimental Photography.
Jade Knutson, one of the photography students featured, showed a photograph taken for her Color Photography, featuring her feet, adorned with tattoos artistically contrasted against a yellow background.
“I was really trying to work with all the colors I had (in that photo),” Knutson said. “I had this fun idea because I knew the professor likes weird photos, so I thought I could push in that direction.”
Knutson often just works with herself as a model, and featured the photo as an attempt to express confidence in her body image.
“It has a little personality with my tattoos in there,” Knutson added. “You never see a lot of tattoos in photos, so I think that was really cool. I was really nervous because this (was) my first time being in an art gallery, so it’s been a really cool experience. It feels like a step in the right direction.”
GVSU student Cora Osterhout also had a photograph in the exhibit. Her work depicted a person wearing a bird mask on the steps outside the Mary Idema Pew Library. Osterhout said the picture was taken from far away to capture a dreary, dystopian feeling.
“That photo was for an assignment where we were supposed to do something out of our comfort zone,” Osterhout said. “I had a friend of mine put on a mask and walk around campus, and I took pictures of her.”
Like Knutson, the exhibition was Osterhout’s first, but she hopes to be involved in more in the future.
“If it were just my work here, I’d be a lot more nervous, but since it’s everybody’s, I’m fine with it,” Osterhout said.
Some participating students, like Toby McConnell, weren’t photography majors, but simply enthusiasts. Their photo was a self-portrait taken for a project on queer life and bodies.
“I actually only took one photography class,” McConnell said. “I have a totally different major, but I take photos as a hobby.”
McConnell wanted their displayed work to invoke thought and a deeper meaning. Their enjoyment in the project came from seeing the exhibit in its entirety and studying what each artist aimed to portray through their work.
“It’s cool to see my classmates’ photos here,” McConnell said. “I think composition is probably my biggest draw, (or) anything that does something different (from the other work).”
