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Small, but Mighty: A Digital Photography in Italy Exhibition

Digital imaging is an art form which composites, blends, and alters photographs and other images, in order to create a new image and new idea. This is a metaphor for the study abroad experience, where students are asked to step outside of themselves, stretch their abilities and communication skills, and challenge their perspectives.

The essence and beauty of studying abroad requires a student to blend a piece of themselves with a new culture, and then reflect on the meaning of this blending from multiple perspectives. It is both a pleasure and honor to participate in a student’s growth in this way. It is also a treasure to have their digital images as a record of this transformation.

Summer 2016 represented the third iteration of Meredith College’s “Digital Photography in Italy” Study Abroad program with travel to Florence, Sansepolcro, and Rome. During the three weeks abroad students learned to use their digital cameras while developing digital imaging techniques to explore and compare the expression of culture in both Italy and the United States. With only six students enrolled, the program was relatively small. However the students made huge strides, and the resulting artwork is stunning.

This program represented a series of “firsts” for each student that ranged in scale from being out of the United States for the first time to trying soy milk for the first time. Each student stepped up to the challenge independently in a unique way such as visiting an Italian animal shelter, discussing the impact of Brexit on a young Italian population, interpreting the duality of meaning in public signage, biking to the birthplace of Michelangelo, and making a day trip to Siena to see the actual artwork researched during previous semesters. All the while, students documented their experiences, analyzed their perspective as Americans, and then visualized their thoughts through images.

The students’ artwork from the 2016 Digital Photography in Italy program will be on display in the Gaddy-Hamrick Art Building, 1st floor hallway from October 14–November 4, 2016. All are welcome to join us for the opening exhibition reception on Sunday, October 16 from 2–4pm.

–Submitted by Co-Directors Shannon Johnstone and Dana Ezzell

Melyssa Allen

News Director
316 Johnson Hall
(919) 760-8087
Fax: (919) 760-8330

allenme@meredith.edu