PHOTOGRAPhY
MESSAGE PRESiDENT FROM THE
Here we have the work of over 500 graduating Art and Design students—every one of them a marvel! Imagine the challenges they faced this year. Forced by the pandemic to work from their homes, denied the in-studio, shoulder-to-shoulder, hands-on learning experience they expected, they nevertheless forged ahead, defying all obstacles. They created makeshift work stations in their bedrooms, basements, kitchen corners and other unlikely locations. Focused, hardworking and energetic, they applied their ingenuity to learn, explore, experiment and achieve. And as we see from this catalogue, they succeeded. The work in this catalogue represents 16 of the School of Art and Design’s programs. In it we not only see the students’ finished products, but also images of how those projects evolved. These images help to reveal the creative process and the students’ individuality. Through it all, we sense their resilience and determination. Indeed, this vibrant catalogue— with its bright bold colors—pays homage to their optimism and extraordinary strength. I offer congratulations to these students and to the families and friends who supported them throughout this difficult year. Congratulations as well to the stalwart Art and Design faculty whose own skills and ingenuity rose to the pandemic’s challenge and provided guidance to their students with diligence and care. Dr. Joyce F. Brown President
2
DEFINE CULTURE
THE
The photographic image, whether moving or still, helps define the culture of a particular place and time. Our imagery documents experiences, expresses political attitudes, embodies fashion trends, and explores emotions, providing an actual and figurative snapshot of society. These images not only react to the world around them, but also have potential to shape and change it. In a world where social media is more and more image-driven, each generation of image-makers builds their own visual culture, directing our attention towards new ideas and new ways of seeing. The works that comprise the Photography department’s Graduating Student Exhibition, While I Was Away, are a microcosm of a larger photographic universe. The exhibition contains work that ranges widely from mixed media, fashion, conceptual, and documentary, to personal explorations of family and childhood.
OF A
PARTICULAR PLACE AND
AARON S CHEUNG
FIT GSE ’21
TIME
PHOTOGRAPHY
TONI SMALLS
MARISSA FORTUGNO
3
PROJECTS
UNTITLED
STATEMENT
MARISA AGUILAR My thesis is a personal documentation of my conscience, which became my friend, enemy, and critic during quarantine while adapting to the new adjustments enforced by the global pandemic. With an endless time of self-reflection and overthinking, I explored my experience with the new norm and emotions of change. The photographs create a visual representation of the interaction within myself to discover comfort in my own company. While facing challenges of negative thoughts, frustration, and fluctuating moods, I was able to control my relationship with myself by being productive. Sticking to a routine allowed me to rely on my independence, which enforced a positive environment. The images contain an opaque and transparent version of myself to highlight my reality and connect with my internal thoughts, actions, and feelings, representing my overcomings with how I dealt with my emotions and self-analyzation during quarantine.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
4
INFO
1.
LOOKING OUT Digital Photography
2.
REFLECTIONS Digital Photography
3.
DAYCARE Digital Photography
STATEMENT
@laurennsphotography
PROJECTS
LAUREN ALLONE
Growing up, I became a visual learner. With this, I grew very aware of my surroundings — the color, architecture, and people around me. I once saw a little girl with a blue bow in her hair looking out the top window of a blue house. In passing, it showed me that life imitates art. I came across a beautiful little moment. Beauty is all around us but not in the way we think. Beauty presents itself through the mundane, in everyday life, and is like a reward after a hard day when you notice it. This led to the formation of my thesis, an ongoing project of documenting moments and architecture in the neighborhood that I grew up in — Gravesend, Brooklyn. It became a way to accept the rewards of beautiful little moments that presented themselves and that would otherwise go unnoticed, whilst immortalizing the place I cherished the most.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
PHOTOGRAPHY
3.
5
INFO
@bakuna_matata
PROJECTS
UNTITLED Digital Film Scan
STATEMENT
JOHN BAKUNAS I grew up in Smithtown, one of the many suburbs of Long Island, New York. Commercial businesses, shopping plazas, and big-box stores dot the edges of roadways. Throughout my life, I have passed by these buildings when driving at night, their bright advertisements always glowing in my peripheral vision whenever I’m lurking in the Island’s dark and empty streets. “Long Island Nights” is a topographical series f deadpan images of commercial businesses at night. My photographs examine the facades of buildings and the light that emanates from them. Using a portable 4x5 camera, “Long Island Nights” aims to document these commercial businesses on the side of the road, strip them of their surrounding context through the darkness of night, and showcase them with the utmost clarity and detail.
1.
2.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
3.
6
INFO
1.
EDRICH KIDS ON THEIR BIKES Photography
2.
MICHAEL’S SCHOOL PICTURE DAY Photography
3.
ELLEN’S SCHOOL PICTURE DAY Photography
STATEMENT
@emilyrickyart, @embrtz
PROJECTS
EMILY BARATZ
1.
2.
“Family Photos” is a photographic project of vernacular family photographs. I have erased the identity of the subjects in order to emphasize the commonality of old family memories that are shared by many people, for example, family beach days or holiday gatherings. This project shows the significance of identity within a photograph and how it relates to memories and nostalgia. The images that I use were never intended to be art; they are collections of school portraits, family snapshots, vacations, etc, taken over the course of decades. Obscuring the faces gives anonymity to the subjects while simultaneously allowing the viewer to relate to the universality of the human experience.
FIT GSE ’21
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
7
INFO
1.
RUN photo
2.
TEDDY photo
3.
CAUGHT photo
STATEMENT
@hailey_burling haileyburling.com
PROJECTS
HAILEY BURLING
In my current body of work, I’m interested in exploring fictional narratives inspired by my childhood memories of watching thriller films full of suspense and fear. The feeling of my heart racing and forgetting the world around me is the motivation to create this series. This is often referred to as the “suspension of disbelief,” a phenomenon of subconsciously forgetting reality and falling into a story, believing for a moment that it’s real. This experience is what I aspire to create in my own photographs. “The UNSETTLING” is a series of cinematic thriller tableaus that take place in a fictional world during the late 1990s and early 2000s, varying in themes of mystery, crime, the supernatural, and extraterrestrials. I am most influenced by Stephen King and M. Night Shyamalan because of their dramatic narratives and their ability to evoke a visceral response in their audience.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
8
INFO
1.
DAWN OF THE WOKE, 2020 Digital Image
2.
LIFE TIME CONSTRUCTION, 2020 Digital Image
3.
NORDSTROM, MANHATTAN, JUNE 2020 Digital Image
STATEMENT
@AaronSCheung AaronSCheung.com
PROJECTS
AARON S CHEUNG 1.
2.
My thesis, “Dawn of the Woke,” is a documentary photography project shot in NYC during 2020. I was compelled to document this historic time when we were faced with a global pandemic, multiple Black lives being lost at the hands of the police, and democracy at stake. I paired audio with the images to provide more immediacy to the viewing experience. I am a Hongkonger-American. In the summer of 2019, I wanted but was unable to document the Hong Kong protests. This tortured me, as I felt the need to document the protests. In 2020, COVID-19 hit the world and the horrific video of George Floyd’s murder went viral. I was compelled to document the uprising in NYC. The momentum from the protesters demanding justice motivated me. I intend to let this work carry the momentum onward, as it was only the dawn of the woke.
FIT GSE ’21
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
9
INFO
1.
HAZEL Digital Image
2.
UNDERCOVER Digital Image
3.
FIDDLER OF FLUSHING Digital Image
STATEMENT
@Vita_obscura_studio, @angelizabeth12 https://vitaobscurastudio.wixsite.com/ vitaobscurastudio
PROJECTS
KELVIN CHUCHUCA 1.
2.
My name is Kelvin, and my senior thesis project is entitled “Yellow Blue Bus,” which is a play on words for “I love you” in Russian, but in a much deeper poetic context that is lost in translation. This context of the limitation of words and finding deeper meanings through a visual context is what drew me to this project. This work has been important for me to create because my fiancée, Elizabeth Scott, is Russian, and after many years of being together, I am still learning about her. There are things that are difficult to explain still, but as artists we bridge these gaps through visual means. This work is an example of the way I perceive Elizabeth, through dreams and reality.
FIT GSE ’21
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
10
INFO
1.
30 photo
2.
168 photo
3.
271 photo
STATEMENT
@le__cafard, @andrescolonphoto
PROJECTS
ANDRES COLON
I use infrared surveillance cameras to document the everyday life of my family. My parents are essential workers, my dad being a maintenance man and my stepmom a Medicaid coordinator. The pandemic has made life much harder for them, and documenting our daily routine allows viewers to glimpse into the lives of essential workers. It also promotes a human perspective firsthand, one that is rarely shown in the media. The mundanity of our lives being displayed for the viewer creates a sense of familiarity. The subject’s ignorance of the camera allows for the most raw and honest moments to be captured. My family is not unique, and we are not facing this global pandemic on our own. Documenting them proves that we are all potentially going through many of the same daily struggles.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
11
INFO
1.
WHAT DEFINES YOU(TUBE)? Video Compilation — https://vimeo.com/545561428
2.
WHAT DEFINES INDIVIDUALITY? Mixed Media on Canvas
3.
WHAT DEFINES INDIVIDUALITY? Mixed Media Installation
STATEMENT
@De5ine FYTH.world
PROJECTS
DE5INE
Digital consumption has changed how we value art, individually as well as collectively. For artists,the internet has made it easier than ever before to reach an audience and authenticate work. When analyzing the relationship between the reactions of a viewing audience and the success of a piece of art, it is clear that in order for an artwork to establish value, there must be traceable engagement. By constructing rooms in a 360-degree installation, I allow individuals to decide for themselves how accessibility and valuation of art has changed. The room acts as a series of artistic experiments, allowing individuals to question what affects their own definitions of value. With a base material of un-stretched canvas and an emphasis on tangibility and texture, a stark contrast is created from the codes and clouds that dictate a world of constant commotion and cognitive compression.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
12
INFO
1.
COIN CASTLE Digital Photography
2.
JERSEY GIRL Digital Photography
3.
KOHR’S Digital Photography
STATEMENT
@nicole.degeorgephotos www.nicoledegeorgephoto.com
PROJECTS
NICOLE DEGEORGE
Growing up in central New Jersey, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to live at the Jersey Shore. My weekends as a little girl consisted of trips to the boardwalks, spending hours in the ocean, on rides, and in the arcades. I’ve now moved to the Jersey Shore; it’s the first time I’ve experienced the desolate cold winter here. These images are a formal deadpan study of the boardwalks photographed during early morning hours around sunrise. The serene atmosphere gave me the feeling of solace and nostalgia. Being home for the past year due to the pandemic, I’ve often felt lonely and taken trips to the beach. While studying the empty boardwalks, I recall childhood memories of these locations. The boardwalks gave me a sense of comfort during these tough times and remind me of a more innocent and pure time in my life.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
13
INFO
@vincenzo.dimino www.vincenzodimino.com
PROJECTS
UNTITLED Polaroid
STATEMENT
VINCENZO DIMINO My personal work revolves around the difficulty many young people experience with accepting of their sexuality. In this series, I photographed various New York City LGBTQ+ individuals in a very intimate setting. I wanted my subjects to be themselves and I wanted to learn about them by using my Polaroid Sun 600 as a tool of communication. Many of the subjects were friends of friends, or people I met online for the first time. Through this project, I gave my subjects a space to be comfortable and express themselves and be who they truly are, while reflecting on myself by exploring the concepts of intimacy and sexuality.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
14
INFO
1.
GRANDPARENT’S POOL Digital photography
2.
CHILDHOOD BED Digital photography
3.
TIME OUT Digital photography
STATEMENT
@Tina_dirosa
PROJECTS
TINA DIROSA
I remember watching television with my cousin when the first assault happened. “Let’s Make a Cake” is a photographic exploration of the suppressed trauma of sexual abuse that occured when I was 7 years old. After the abuse he went to the kitchen, washed his hands, and said, “Let’s make a cake for Mommy when she comes home from work.” My cousin was never prosecuted due to “lack of physical evidence.” My perception of love was destroyed at a young age. Like most survivors of trauma, I don’t remember my youth, which was the impetus to revisit my past and make this body of work. This project is a series of tableau self-portraits photographed in location from my childhood, depicting scenes of where my trauma took place.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
15
INFO
1.
SLEEP LIVESTREAM THUMBNAIL Collage
2.
SLEEP LIVESTREAM COMMENTS Collage
3.
SLEEP LIVESTREAM Video
STATEMENT
@mavdooley https://mavourneendooley.com/
PROJECTS
MAVOURNEEN DOOLEY
On average, I spend nine hours and forty-two minutes a day on my phone. I spend much of this time online, sending my friends videos I think they might like, getting inspiration for new art projects, and talking to people who I would never have had the chance to meet in person. In this digital universe, there are many pockets of human interaction, ranging from wholesome and kind experiences to darker and more distressing ones. This project is about internet culture and the wide range of intimacy within it. From YouTube comments to Craigslist forums, this body of work aims to view many different areas of online intimacy. Within these small online clusters, deep relationships and close connections can be found as a reminder of our humanity.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
16
INFO
@santielliott santiagoelliott.com https://youtu.be/z3Lenotuxyg
PROJECTS
1.
WATER DEGRADATION 3D Video Renders with Data Degradation
2.
SKY DEGRADATION 3D Video Renders with Data Degradation
STATEMENT
SANTIAGO ELLIOTT
Our connection to nature is primal. The seemingly random patterns of visuals and sounds all work together, symbiotically creating a magical, cathartic experience. Trying to translate this through ones and zeros can perplex the mind. Then, uploading this data online further compresses it, resulting in a bitrate unsuitable to trick your brain into experiencing that magical rush from being outdoors. In this project, I explore that relationship and push the boundaries of what it means to integrate and present nature through technology. Every aspect of this project, from the real-time 3D renders to the layered soundscapes, has been constructed with the intention of visualizing digital degradation. This work amplifies what is lost in trying to digitize nature. My intention is to show that the pursuit of replicating nature is not yet feasible. The preservation of nature’s wonders is an obtainable approach that societally we should prioritize for our mental and physical health.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
PHOTOGRAPHY
17
INFO
1.
PAIGE Photography
2.
ALEX Photography
3.
JUNO Photography
STATEMENT
@marissa_fortugno www.marissafortugno.com
PROJECTS
MARISSA FORTUGNO
“Ode to The Queer Youth” examines my relationship with my sexual identity and gender expression through portraits of my peers and people who inspire me. I was never allowed to feel secure in my identity; questions about who I was were constant at a young age. This made it difficult for me to express myself and I often felt alone in my queerness. It wasn’t until I started to find queer friends that I was able to be comfortable and secure with myself. This project is an exploration of not only my peers and my community, but of myself and my own identity. It is important for me to photograph my queer friends because I feel they should be honored and recognized. This is my community, and without them I wouldn’t have the strength or courage to feel free to express myself as a queer person.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
18
INFO
1.
ME, IN MY CHILDHOOD BEDROOM Digital photography
2.
WAX ON SKIN CANVAS
3.
IN MY NEW SPACE
STATEMENT
@jennagardner.jpg www.jennagardnerphoto.com
PROJECTS
JENNA GARDNER
My current body of work, entitled “The Edge of Adolescence,” consists of self-portraits that share my personal experience from my adolescent years to adulthood. This series visually explores my identity and sexuality, along with the privacy of intimacy and pleasure. My focus is to draw awareness to the adolescent years I am leaving behind, as well as the new stages I am entering. Here I capture my daily mundane self-care routines, but also share a side I had never touched on until I moved away from my childhood home. This work will resonate over time and evolveas I progress and grow as an individual. As I document myself through these transitory moments, they simply fill up an archive of vulnerable and raw photographs of me, expressing that no taboo deserves to be left out of frame.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
19
INFO
@oliviaannagates oliviaannagates.com
PROJECTS
THREE DUCKS IN A ROW Analog
STATEMENT
OLIVIA GATES I am a fine art photographer from Huntsville, Alabama. I started documenting the Southern landscape when I was 18 years old. Staying close to my roots, I continue photographing the South, rich in history and transcendent natural beauty. Since leaving home for NYC, I look back on my home with a more sentimental gaze, through a newly altered lens. I intend to create a photographic time capsule by capturing places that are fading into history and being overtaken by suburbia. I shot on medium-format slide film with the intention of showcasing the colors of the ordinary structures and landscapes.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
20
INFO
@sabrinagiacomaggio www.sabrinagiacomaggio.com
PROJECTS
UNTITLED Medium format film
STATEMENT
SABRINA GIACOMAGGIO “Sending Thoughts and Prayers” is a long-form documentary series telling the story of my mother’s last few years. My mother’s health started to decline rapidly in 2018 after receiving experimental chemotherapy in the late 1980s. Initially, in January 2019, the series was created out of necessity for me, a defense mechanism for the realities of my declining mother. Eventually, the series continued in collaboration with her. Her speech and mobility were limited, but she clung to the idea that we were still able to do something, anything, together. Through a number of health complications, we created the content of “Sending Thoughts and Prayers.” The images primarily highlight our relationship, our navigation through life’s process, and an overarching fear of death.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
21
INFO
1.
MARIE ANTOINETTE Photography
2.
OPHELIA Photography
3.
SAINT SEBASTIAN Photography
STATEMENT
@naomy.jpg
PROJECTS
NAOMY GUZMAN 1.
2.
The most inspirational part of my study abroad in Paris was going to the Louvre. I was immediately taken aback by how large their collection of paintings was, but while looking around, I realized that almost all of the subjects depicted were white. None of them looked like me, an Afro-Latina with tan skin and curly hair. What would have been a fun museum trip for most people became an eye-opening experience that made me think about representation in art history in a way I never had before. So I decided to rewrite history and make photographs inspired by some of the paintings that I had seen. Recently it feels as though the beauty of people of color is a modern concept. By going back in time and placing them in classical paintings, I want to show that we were always beautiful and worthy of this kind of representation.
FIT GSE ’21
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
22
INFO
@npjerome www.npjero.me
PROJECTS
UNTITLED Photograph
STATEMENT
NATHANIEL JEROME There is a defined sense of dread attached to the architectural language of the modern prefabricated structure: The non-place. Office spaces, airplanes, subways, waiting rooms, industrial complexes, server farms, and homogeneous McMansion communities. In all of these places festers a recognition of the birth, exploitation, and death of the radically free autonomous individual at the hands of the venture capitalist. “Ecstasy of the Mutant” is an exploration of the shifting meaning of physical and digital landscape in the context of the non-place, using images, unsecured camera networks, and AI deep learning algorithms.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
23
INFO
1.
DAY 252, 11.28.20 Digital Photo
2.
DAY 268, 12.15.20 Digital Photo
3.
DAY 341, 2.25.21 Digital Photo
STATEMENT
@leahbphotography leahb-photography.com
PROJECTS
LEAH KING
In the year 2020, we faced a global pandemic, protests against racial injustice, natural disasters, and a divided United States presidential election. I was in my sixth semester of college when COVID-19 broke out in New York City, forcing me back to my childhood home. Upon returning, I had to find a different way to produce work. I started taking a self-portrait every day as a type of diary. My quarantine photos then became my thesis project, “A Year at Home.” These images are time-specific and created in reaction to events happening in the world outside the walls of my home. This series serves as a documentation and consideration of my inner world and how I was affected by the events happening through 2020 and into 2021.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
24
INFO
@emilytourtle https://www.emilylanderphotography.com/
PROJECTS
UNTITLED Photograph
STATEMENT
EMILY LANDER I never did much traveling growing up. There were the smaller family road trips to North Carolina and various places in Canada, which is only 20 minutes from my house. Once, we even took a flight to Florida. But my 10-year-old dreams were farther out in the world. 2020 was the year those stopped being just dreams, with stamps from Grenada, Riviera Maya, and Hawaii filling up my passport this past year. But just weeks before boarding my first flight, COVID19 devastated the world. Within days, my flights and my everyday life was canceled. “Two weeks to flatten the curve” turned into five weeks, and then it was two months. Trapped, with no schedule to keep, the same walls. Trapped still today. The goal of my thesis is to create an escape, transforming the walls that have been trapping me, to feel free and creative again.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
25
INFO
@daniella.liguori daniellaliguori.com
PROJECTS
UNTITLED Silver Gelatin Print
STATEMENT
DANIELLA LIGUORI I am a fine art photographer who is interested in exploring different psychological states by photographing myself in isolated or abandoned locations. I work with a medium-format film camera and often use long exposures to create an ethereal, dreamlike atmosphere. In my most recent series, I portray a solitary figure in various desolate ambiguous locations, embodying my melancholic state. I seek out secluded environments such as abandoned buildings and heavily wooded areas. The locations are an important element, almost like another character in the photograph with a history of their own. Even though I remain the subject of my work, I don’t consider them self-portraits, but more a look into my psyche, displaying an inner state of mind. My face is always concealed, making the identity of the subject a mystery for the viewer.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
26
INFO
1.
1 digital photograph
2.
2 digital photograph
3.
3 digital photograph
STATEMENT
@josiemacd, @nailsxjosie
PROJECTS
JOSEPHINE MACDONALD
2020 has been an incredibly traumatic and unpredictable year for everyone around the world. We’ve witnessed countless social injustices, natural disasters, a significant presidential election, and a pandemic that has taken over a million lives in less than a year. I, like many people, suffer from anxiety, so maintaining my mental health has been more difficult than usual. One way I cope is by doing things with my hands, such as cleaning, painting, and doing nails. In my project, entitled “NAILS,” I’m shooting selfportraits that dramatize some of the mundane activities I did while in quarantine. These self-portraits only include my hands and arms, which allows the viewer to focus on the subject. My nails are a crucial detail in this project, since I’m incorporating my passion for nail art into my photography. This detail is emphasized by shooting with flash against a vibrant background to add contrast.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
3.
2.
PHOTOGRAPHY
27
INFO
1.
HIGHLANDS Digitally manipulated image
2.
SUNSET FOX Digitally manipulated image
3.
GREEN PASTURES Digitally manipulated image
STATEMENT
@nicole.minder nicoleminder.com
PROJECTS
NICOLE MINDER
Blurring the lines between reality and fiction, “Naturescape” is a collection of manipulated landscapes that have been re-envisioned with the use of technology to alter the natural world. I aim to change the perception of nature photography and distort the truth to create an alternate scene. The work is inspired by early 19th-century landscape painters, such as Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole, in their pursuit to create an idyllic world. This series pushes the limits of what a photographic landscape can be in relation to how it is normally seen: as documentation and truth. The landscapes are not specific to any recognizable location, as they are meant to be ambiguous, surreal, and unnerving. This is accomplished by having multiple components, such as animals, plants, landforms, and skies, taken from my other photographs and stock images. My reconstructions of environments provokes the viewer to explore uncharted territory.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
28
INFO
@gllmit gillmit.com
PROJECTS
1.
COGNITIVE ITCH 01 Photograph
2.
COGNITIVE ITCH 02 Photograph
STATEMENT
GILLIAN MITREUTER
“Cognitive Itch” is a collection of photographs that visually express the fully immersive experience one feels when obsessively listening to a body of music. In one’s mind there is a blurred line between being meditatively present and a chaotic spiral of drowning out everything until the only thoughts repeated are the same lyrics, same melody. When dealing with this cognitive itch, or earworm, the over-whelming experience compelled me to make his work to transport the viewer to this state of mind. The photographs are achieved by using my synesthesia, which allows me to hear color. Through this process, I ultimately arrive at colorful abstract soundscapes by digitally altering photographs of light. I invite the viewer to spend time with the work and reflect on what these images bring to mind.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
PHOTOGRAPHY
2.
29
INFO
1.
139:17 35mm film
2.
139:6 35mm film
3.
139:23 35mm film
STATEMENT
@sail0r_m00 marissamorello.com
PROJECTS
MARISSA MORELLO 1.
“A Year in the Wild” focuses on my trust in God and artistic instincts to document the beauty around me during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a collection of snapshots caught exclusively on black-and-white film with an Olympus point-and-shoot. I suffered heavily from depression, anxiety, and substance abuse until a recent call to faith. Around the time I started reflecting on these images, I reconnected with my Roman Catholic roots. The 15 rolls of film acted as little time capsules, and when developed, allowed me to find salvation from my internal suffering.
FIT GSE ’21
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
30
INFO
1.
MOM PULLING VINES Archival Print
2.
MOM AND I COLLECTING SNAILS Archival Print
3.
SIFTING SAND IN THE DUNES Archival Print
STATEMENT
@nell_pittman nellpittman.com
PROJECTS
NELL PITTMAN
The summer following my father’s unexpected death, my mom, sister, and I traveled aimlessly across North America spreading his ashes. On these trips we found solace in bathing in streams, on long stretches of road touching flowering deserts, and in just seeing that the world was bigger than daddy dying. My memories of uninhabited land and the grief we poured into it are the inspiration behind my current photographic series. The collection consists of selfportraits alongside my family, evoking a once-familiar, yet now otherworldly utopia. There are no signs of modern life; the photographs are taken in tucked-away parts of nature that have not been directly altered by humans. The landscapes I chose to photograph are specific to my memories: a dried-up lake we used to canoe across, the wooded path where my parents got married, and landscapes reminiscent of those we traveled through while spreading his ashes.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
31
INFO
1.
VANHA-MAAHI DETAIL Inkjet linen prints, indigo dye
2.
VANHA-MAAHI FULL Inkjet linen prints, indigo dye
3.
VANHA-MAAHI DETAIL Inkjet linen prints, indigo dye
STATEMENT
@tylerroarty tylerroartyphotography.com
PROJECTS
TYLER ROARTY
“Vanha-Maahi” centers around the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland that is based around folklore and mythology. I use the long-established American practice of quiltmaking, which developed as a communicative tool, to pass down generational stories. I use vernacular images of my family to connect to my Finnish roots, relating members of my family to characters in the Kalevala. In the quilt, each photographic fabric block corresponds to one of the runes in the national epic. Select images on the quilt have accompanying audio read by my family, reciting a few lines from each selected story. This audio is played over a common Finnish lullaby, Nuku Nuku. Parts of the background are naturally dyed blue with indigo to reference the Finnish flag and its spiritual symbolism. I connect with my FinnishAmerican heritage by merging traditional values from each to transcend the feeling of domesticity, nostalgia, and time.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
32
INFO
1.
UNTITLED #8 Digital Photography
2.
UNTITLED #9 Digital Photography
3.
UNTITLED #2 Digital Photography
STATEMENT
@nxtlaura bylaurarodriguez.com
PROJECTS
LAURA RODRIGUEZ
“Close to Home” is a photographic series of suburban and industrial landscapes taken at dusk, in my hometown of Oceanside, New York. Despite growing up in this town, I have always felt disconnected from the environment. Oceanside is like any other suburban town, and just like any other city, it has its defining characteristics and oddities that I’ve always questioned. For instance, a mysterious landfill that no one knows anything about, chemical-filled canals that are threaded throughout the town, and a small sector of factories given the title “Oil City.” Although the connection I have to the locations is detached and cold, I also find beauty in the places I photograph. The images are eerie, atmospheric, and dark, evoking the same emotions of uncertainty and tension that I feel while taking them. These classic suburban landscapes are empty and vacant of people, once inhabited spaces but now filled with suspense.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
33
INFO
1.
PROJECT Digital Photography / Drone Photography
2.
PROJECT Digital Photography / Drone Photography
3.
PROJECT Digital Photography / Drone Photography
STATEMENT
jrubeshphotography@gmail.com
PROJECTS
JAMES RUBESH
“All That Remains” is a historical, artistic approach to the abandoned remains of the buildings at Kings Park Psychiatric Hospital, and a look at the forgotten information that lies beneath the rubble. The project is ongoing and aims to gather the viewers’ attention, give them the history of what went on in the early days of mental institutions, and provide imagery to go along with it, though not depicting any malpractice or treatment of the patients. There is a deep sense of the forgotten individuals and the lives that remain as memories within the walls. My love for the history of these places has brought me to this research and image-taking, and I aim to create the best images possible to capture the feeling of the space as well as to provoke the thought of what happened.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
34
INFO
1.
ROSE REALITY Digital Image
2.
REVIVAL Digital Image
3.
A PLACE I’D RATHER BE Digital Image
STATEMENT
@NoahSachss
PROJECTS
NOAH SACHS
My senior thesis project, entitled “The New Dystopia: Perceptions from an Alienated Society,” focuses on this new era we are all living through by using a filtered perspective that serves chaos and fear. The first four series of components or “chapters,” travel through my mental space prior to and during the pandemic and ultimately lead to the final series, called “Revival.” “Revival” serves as the final point of the project that transforms all of the negative energy into something influential. The intended larger message that “TND:PFAAS” wants to convey is that everyone is being alienated by something in society, and that is the new dystopia. This work has been important for me to create because it has allowed me to create from my own personal struggles while at the same time utilizing what goes on in the world collectively.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
35
INFO
@Anthony___Santos
PROJECTS
UNTITLED Photography
STATEMENT
ANTHONY SANTOS “From A Past Life” explores the arrangements of mundane objects. By constructing sculptures from various materials, such as metal, glass, wood, and wire, I create a series of still lives which explores contrasts and the transitions between objective and abstract appearance. This essentially creates a new formal and conceptual language by actively using open and negative space. The use of lines and shapes will work to modify and reinvent the formal language of minimalism, producing new relationships between the viewer and the surrounding environment.
FIT GSE ’21
PHOTOGRAPHY
36
INFO
1.
THE 31ST OF OCTOBER Digital image
2.
UNDER THE UMBRELLA Digital image
3.
IN THE DISCO WORLD Digital image
STATEMENT
@angelizabeth12 https://vitaobscurastudio.wixsite.com/ vitaobscurastudio
PROJECTS
ELIZABETH SCOTT
I am a mixed-media visual artist who likes to focus on abstract and surrealist work. In “The City of Strangers” series, I enjoy photographing New York and its people, but I also heavily manipulate the images by placing multiple layers, different shapes, and saturated colors over the composition. These manipulations are of natural and man-made abstractions that have grabbed my attention ever since I was a child. These abstractions are typically left unseen in our fast-paced adult lives, but their rediscovery reminds me of my childhood, when one finds beauty and magic in everything around, no matter how minuscule it may be, whether in a dream or in reality. There is a conflict in us to grow up and to retain our innocence in how we interact with the world — the difference between what we call a documentary, and what we call fantasy.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
37
INFO
1.
UNDER INNER CORE - THE MIDNIGHT ZONE Video
2.
UNDER INNER CORE - CRAWLERS Digital Photo
3.
UNDER INNER CORE - THE MIDNIGHT ZONE Digital Photo
STATEMENT
@toni.creations https://www.tonicreations.com
PROJECTS
TONI SMALLS
“Under Inner Core” is a visual poetry EP. It is a short film comprising five varying vignettes, each paired with five poems — turned into one long film. I’ve used this project as an exploration of my emotional landscape. I have always hidden under a faux vulnerability — I pretend that I am being honest about my emotions to keep others at bay. In reality, the feelings of being “alone in my own home” overwhelm me daily, relentlessly. The isolation weighs, feeling like a fog surrounding whatever space I occupy. In order to explore that friction, I intentionally clash the two realities by bringing household items into nature, and working with models who were Black, Indigenous or people of color as stand-ins for myself. I worked with BIPOC fashion designers to style the models in designs with emotional pull. The film is written, directed, shot, set-designed, and produced by me.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
38
INFO
1.
DANI, 21 (SHE/HER) 01.07.2021 Digital Photography
2.
GRAYSON, 19 (THEY/THEM) 01.11.2021 Digital Photography
3.
LACHLAN, 19 (THEY/THEM) 01.09.2021 Digital Photography
STATEMENT
@kaydenmichaelphoto kaydenmichaelphoto.com
PROJECTS
KAYDEN STRAUSS 1.
2.
I have found that, throughout my life, my art is very personal to me and continues to be a form of processing my surrounding thoughts. Every image is influenced by my identity, exploring and memorializing what makes me who I am. When working, my methods are executed deliberately, focusing on agency and consent. Through my use of texture, color, and phrasing, I portray an image of a feeling. My current project, “We Live Here, We Love Here,” is a series of identity portraitures that document trans and gender-nonconforming individuals. Inspired by the collective loss felt throughout history, each person is meant to be frozen in time. While influenced by the past, it also visualizes the future. I want to celebrate and uplift the community that has welcomed me so kindly, while still preserving it from outside forces. No matter what may happen, their stories are preserved and told.
FIT GSE ’21
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
39
INFO
1.
UNTITLED Digital Photography
2.
NEW BEGINNINGS Digital Photography
3.
UNTITLED Digital Photography
STATEMENT
@kvlphotography kimberlyvo.com
PROJECTS
KIMBERLY VO
1.
2.
My thesis project visually explores the transformation of my relationship with my mother. When I was 7 years old my parents divorced. My mother was having an affair, and because of that, there was a falling-out between us and I developed resentment towards her. I lost respect and trust for her, which led me to believe that our relationship could not be healed. Silence filled our home and we were never the same. After a few years, my mother began to date another man, which changed her perspective on life and pushed her to make amends with me. The COVID-19 lockdown opened up an opportunity for us to talk and take the first steps to move forward. The act of photography allowed me to heal old wounds, which helped me reconnect my relationship with my mother.
FIT GSE ’21
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
40
INFO
1.
BROWN PAPER BAG TEST - JAYSON Photo
2.
BROWN PAPER BAG TEST - ERIN Photo
3.
BROWN PAPER BAG TEST - MAIYA Photo
STATEMENT
@maiyaimanis https://www.maiyaimanis.com
PROJECTS
MAIYA WRIGHT
Society perceives lighter skin tones as better in terms of beauty, worth and power. Young people in the Black community have perpetuated this idea. My project addresses colorism within the Black community and the effects it has on this and future generations. Asking various questions about complexion will start the conversation among those who experience or contribute to colorism. Questions like, “Do you know what colorism is, do you think colorism is real and do you know what the paper bag test is?” will bring personal awareness to others. Exploring what impact the brown paper bag test has among Black people will educate those who are not aware of its affect. As the next generation, we have the power to change society for the better, to be less racist and less bigoted. I may not stop colorism alone, but I want to be part of the solution to fix it.
FIT GSE ’21
1.
2.
3.
PHOTOGRAPHY
41
www.fitnyc.edu/gse @fitgse2021_Photography