Panorama Days
There was a very competitive pool of entries for this year’s Student Juried Exhibition. All artists who entered should be proud of their work. It was a joy to see the prowess of caliber within the Photography + Media program. Panorama Days, I affectionately titled this show, comes from an ongoing joke from a podcast called “The Read”, the hosts call the pandemic any other “pan” word, except pandemic, “...living in a “Panda Express”, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, and “Panorama” are frequently used phrases.
Artworks selected for this exhibition embraced, with unabashed personality, complicated personal and societal experiences of the past year. Humor, quirkiness, and contemplation are traits that dominated my selection process. The student juried exhibition offers a panoramic view of the complicated nature of life within the past year of which everyone was forced to cope.
Irreverent works of Elizabeth Espinet, Richard Howard, Elizabeth Miller, Gabrielle Sardo, Lukundo Musonda, and Kate Pannozzo delineate how drama and theoretical elaboration can fortify one’s self. The metaphorical, yet poignant quirkiness of Tarmesha Lewis and David Kravitz's photographs twist the familiar and freshen the most challenging issues of our day. Julianne Gilmore, Arlyss Rios, Eli Burke, and Leslie Garcia's works allow space for internal and external intimate moments, offering glimpses into the lives of others. Duane Ball, Trena Raines, Dean McIntyre, Nasir Miah, and Jennifer Bates represented modernist traditions of photography, utilizing traits considered - in the early 1900s - unique to photography, unadulterated views of modern life through sharp detail and straightforward compositions, all the while triggering memory, quiet observation, and even political issues. All artists in Panorama Days are exemplifiers of what makes photography a staple in our lives. They took commonalities of our lives and created works which provided enhanced ways of seeing life, abruptly turned, a lot less ordinary.
Antonio McAfee, Juror
4/2021
