Typically, a gallery show with no explicit unifying theme would feel haphazard and incohesive. But this was not so at the opening of the annual Summer Photography Show at Postcrypt, Columbia’s undergraduate art gallery.
Aside from the requirement that all submissions must be photographs taken during the summer, artists were free to take on any subject matter of their choice with absolutely no limitations. Each artist’s section of wall space containing his or her set of photographs was like a self-contained mini-gallery of that individual’s work.
In the end, the collection of photographs revealed a diverse perspective on art that may be more compelling than a show built around a single concept. As Jenny Lam, CC ’09 and Postcrypt president, explained it, “Most everyone at Columbia takes photographs and can be an artist this way—its of-the-moment quality and convenience allow anyone to play the part of a photographer.”
Since the photographs were all taken by the artists this past summer, the viewer gets to vicariously experience the travels, explorations, and homecomings in the pictures. This sense of viewing each artist’s summer through his or her own eyes makes the show less about the actual pictures themselves and more about the places, people, and events captured in the photographs. So while some photographs stood out for their stunning artistic compositions, others were more notable for their spur-of-the-moment quality and ability to capture an everyday scene in a different light.
The collections of some of the photographers resembled travel scrapbooks, proudly showing off the exotic locales and foreign landmarks the students had visited over the summer. Maya Koenig, CC ’09, included postcard-worthy shots of the pyramid at the entrance to the Louvre in Paris, while Angela Radulescu, CC ’11 and staff photographer for Spectator, documented some of the stunning art deco architecture of Barcelona.
Some photographers, on the other hand, chose to commemorate their experiences much closer to home, a challenge that required them to find something special in familiar subjects. For example, Rosalyn Shih, CC ’11, looked no further than her own backyard for artistic inspiration. Her collection of photos documents a snowy day at Columbia that made the campus look like a pristine winter wonderland. As mesmerizing as the photos were, though, their inclusion did seem somewhat jarring in a gallery full of photos otherwise taken exclusively during the summer months.
If the directors of the Postcrypt Art Gallery hoped to attract new talent by organizing their show around such an accessible medium and such an inclusive theme, then they were without a doubt successful. Lam notes that, with the exception of several “Postcrypt veterans,” the majority of the photographers featured in the show were newcomers submitting their work to the gallery for the first time.
With any luck, these new artists’ involvement in the Summer Photography Show will serve as a gateway to being active contributors to Postcrypt in the future—perhaps in different media and within the constraints of a unifying idea, but still motivated by the diversity of experiences and perspectives present in their photography.
