On Monday April 22 the exhibit “Capturing Growth and Change: Photographs by Lauren Howe, Deborah Maddu Huacuja and Tom Kredo,” opened in Milne Library.
The students of ARTH 388: Museum Studies – Theory & Practice served as the exhibit’s curators.
“I wanted to give them a sense of what is involved in doing this as a career,” said professor of art history Lynette Bosch. “We did everything you would do in a professional exhibition. All the students shared the work.”
According to Bosch, many of her students have displayed interest in pursuing a career in museum studies.
“I enjoy the class a lot because it’s a microcosm of what it takes to put together an exhibition,” said teaching assistant sophomore Brandon Eng. “One of the things that everyone learned is that logistics is so much of putting it all together.”
The class received a Student Association and Geneseo Foundation research and travel grant to bring one of the artists – Deborah Madu Huacuja – to campus. Huacuja provided a talk and answered students’ questions before the exhibition opening.
Huacuja’s work focuses on a trip she recently took to India while Kredo and Howe’s work emphasizes capturing human interaction with nature in their daily lives.
During her talk Huacuja recounted stories from her visit to India, including watching rats and cobras, walking the streets with children and drinking tea made from marijuana roots; however, it was India’s spiritual component Huacuja said she was most drawn to.
“You go to the temple and you do your own communion,” she said. “You can sleep there, eat there. It’s just a beautiful place and you can be there by yourself. All the things that are considered health or new age here are normal there.”
In the series, “Thread of Life,” Huacuja presents colorful and vibrant pictures from her trip. She’s captured people and places throughout India that evoke both the spiritual and visceral nature of life.
Huacuja’s “Girl in the Turquoise Dress” emphasizes the vitality of her collection. The image depicts a young Indian girl in a bright turquoise dress holding a younger boy. They are standing in the shadow of an archway – behind them a man squats in a white robe and orange pagri, or turban.
The image exemplifies the heart of the Hucuja’s collection, which expresses that even in dark spaces, a spirit and vivacity pervade Indian culture and society. The entire exhibit expresses the idea that through growth and change over time and space, there exists a genealogy of people, places and things that move life forward.
The exhibit will be on display until May 30.