To celebrate International Education Week, the University of Idaho International Programs Office organized an exhibit in the Reflections Gallery at the UI Commons last month.
The exhibit included both photographs and cultural artifacts. Morgan Gardner, the organizer of the International Programs Office’s exhibit, said the displayed photographs were from the UI study abroad photo contest which occurred in the spring of 2017.
A photograph of Cassidy Callaham, a recent broadcasting and digital media graduate of UI, was featured in the exhibit. The photo of Callaham, which shows her partaking in Shaman practices in the city of Cuyabeno in the Amazon Rainforest in 2016, won the “engaging with the culture” category in the photo contest and was taken by UI advertising major, Nathan Pleskoff.
Callaham said her trip opened her eyes to a new way of life. She said the photo shows a Shaman singing a song above her that he would normally sing above people who came to him for help.
“It was so weird but so cool,” Callaham said. “You just feel like you’ve completely left everything you know.”
She said a camera and photographs are the easiest way to describe something.
“You can actually see what other people are seeing,” she said.
Callaham said after her trip to Ecuador, South America now holds a very special place in her heart, and she hopes to go back someday. So far, Callaham said she has been to England, Ireland, Ecuador, Portugal and is hoping to possibly backpack through Europe or visit Thailand in the near future.
“There are already plans in the making,” she said.
Gardner said she thought it was special and important to include a small blurb of writing with each photo in the gallery. She said that it allowed viewers to get a sense of what the photographer was feeling in the moment the photo was taken.
Besides photographs, the exhibit included artifacts from various countries, such as a wood carving from Papua New Guinea and a hunting bow from Kenya. Gardner said the artifacts come from the Culture Kit room in the Bruce M. Pitman Center, which houses artifacts from around the world that faculty and students have contributed over the years.
Gardner said the International Programs Office displays most of the artifacts during its Cruise the World event each year.
“They’re so colorful and beautiful, so it’s nice to display them as works of art,” she said.
Gardner said she enjoys when the gallery features individual student displays. She said it’s a cool way to see a variety of a student’s artwork.
“It’s really awesome to have this gallery available to be able to showcase student work,” Gardner said. “I wish our stuff could be up for months.”
The International Programs Office’s exhibit was displayed in the Reflections Gallery in November.
Nishiki Sugawara-Beda, assistant professor of art and design and director of the Reflections Gallery, said the Reflections Gallery is open to students and faculty from all departments at UI. Sugawara-Beda said she wants to see various types of expression of diverse topics featured in the gallery, not just work created by fine arts students.
She said in the future, members of the community will also have a chance to combine their efforts with students for an exhibit.
“It’s a gallery for students by students,” she said.
Sugawara-Beda said the Reflections Gallery is unique because it’s open and public. She said closed-off galleries can seem intimidating. She said most exhibits are up for three weeks, with a one-week period between exhibits. However, this semester there have been more one week shows due to seasonal exhibits and the number of people interested in using the space, she said.
To kick off the Spring 2018 semester, Sugawara-Beda said the UI student organization Visual Arts Community will present an exhibit in the Reflections Gallery that they have been working on for quite some time.
“This gallery is really all about the students and their ideas,” Sugawara-Beda said.
Jordan Willson can be reached [email protected]