While living in Brooklyn, New York, for the summer of 2025, I worked as a copy editor for the non-profit Witness to Mass Incarceration. This position required careful framing of formerly incarcerated individuals’ stories in order to help them receive grant funding. I had to be aware of any judgments I may unconsciously have regarding …
During the visit, the objects on the table were ones included in my friends Sida and Nancy’s curatorial tutorial project, Collecting China: Missionary Assemblages of a Distant World, 1844–1911. Wendi had left the objects out to show our class and their tutorial group. I immediately recognized a bib and a pair of baby shoes that …
Creative Campus Initiative visit from photographer Morgan Maben As Morgan spoke, I found myself using self-awareness to reflect upon the rest of the class, learning what I had dedicated 4 years to. Additionally, both my professor at Wesleyan and my teacher, Irina Rozovsky, have positionalities connected to the assigned reading, Is it Soap Opera or …
While writing my essay on this image, I couldn’t help but miss the people and lifestyle, the sun, and the photo prints of my Arles summer. I realized I would only want to get an MFA from the photography school in Arles, with access to the yearly international photography festival in the city. Reflecting on …
During my summer in Arles, an international photography festival occurs from the beginning of July through September. Because the shows are spread across the city, the festival transforms Arles itself into a space for discussion and cultural exchange. It is not uncommon to see shop owners and curators mingling with jurors from Kodak. A once-quiet …
During my time in France, I became interested in the rise of the New Popular Front in the summer of 2024 and the way many artists, students, academics, and members of the creative class responded to Emmanuel Macron’s government. The coalition formed very quickly after Macron called snap elections following the far right’s major gains …
An experience I hold dear was seeing Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot at Le Méjan–Actes Sud, an independent theater in Arles, with my friend, who taught in my study abroad program, and her mother. Before the screening, my friend pointed out a local politician in the audience, which made the theater feel deeply connected to the intellectual and …
The summer before Junior year, I studied abroad in Arles, France. Located in the Camargue, the location is known for its history as part of Provence. On a field trip with my summer study abroad group, I went to the LUMA Tower in Arles. The tower is an art museum containing modern art in its …
During my Hong Kong Cinema trip, our hotel offered a complimentary English-style breakfast with different items each morning, including eggs Benedict on an English muffin, toast, hash browns, cornflakes, sausages, coffee, pastries, and baked beans. In Hong Kong, Many hotels serve both English and Cantonese breakfast options side by side, which reflects the city’s international …
This photograph was taken during my Hong Kong Cinema class trip at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin, Hong Kong. Like many of the tourists climbing the stairs to the monastery, I took dozens of pictures of the golden figures lining the pathway. At the time, I mostly experienced the site visually. I …
