Students’ photography project sheds light on social-political problems unrecognized by media

The color photography at Friday night’s bachelor of fine arts show shed light on social-political problems in the United States that otherwise have remained in the dark.

This year’s exhibit, titled “No Man is an Island,” opened at the Art Hospital on Friday night. The work of 13 students in the BFA Photography Honors Program was on display at the annual show.

The photography at the show stressed the importance of these problems. The pieces were very theatrical, said Yara Cluver, professor of advanced photography and show attendee.

The topics hit on everything from the lack of helium as a resource and the negative aspects of the Internet to the shortage of spaces for graves.

One photo, titled “Unhappy Meals,” by BFA student Edith Wroblewski, touched on the rising obesity rate in the United States. The description below her photo explained the negative effects of obesity as peer torment, heart disease and diabetes. The photograph showed a girl, her face unrecognizable and only lit by the glow of a television screen, sitting on top of a hill compiled of hamburger wrappers and fast-food bags.

All of the photos used sophisticated strobe lighting, which the students had to learn during the first few shoots.  

“It was a fun project and a good learning experience as we all took turns being photographer, lighting, models, makeup and gaffer to make the image the director sketched out,” Miller said.

Another photo by BFA student Elaine Miller, titled “The Bombs Bursting in Air,” depicted post-traumatic stress disorder. One out of five war veterans are diagnosed with the problem, according to the description below the photo. The photo focused on a soldier sitting on the ground with his head held in his hands. In the background, the Fourth of July festivities continued without him.

Miller said she got the idea for the photo when she was at a Fourth of July party last year with her friends and family.

“When it was time to go down to watch the fireworks, one guy in the house refused to go down to the lake because the sound of the fireworks reminded him too much of bombs while he was in Iraq,” Miller said. “It was the first time I realized that fireworks are supposed to signify the bombs from the Revolutionary War, and I found a strange irony in this.”

Many of Miller’s friends who have returned from the Iraq War expressed that they aren’t getting the treatment they deserve.

“One of my friends received a Purple Heart, but he didn’t get his education paid for as promised, or complete medical treatment,” Miller said.