Photography and Migration exhibit opens at Miller Library

On April 24, 2015, the Photography and Migration Project, led by Tanya Sheehan (Associate Professor, Art), opened its first exhibition to the public. It will remain on view in the Robinson Room of Miller Library through the summer.

Organized in conjunction with the Center for the Arts and Humanities’ 2014-2015 theme of “migrations,” the exhibition incorporates photographic and other materials from Special Collections, the Waterville Historical Society, and the collections of local families. Cabinet displays address photographs of and by Franco-Americans in Maine, representations of African Americans at Colby and the migration of racial stereotypes, the emotional connections to home that an American poet expressed through her writing and photographs, the image of success embodied by an extraordinary Irish-American immigrant, and the cross-cultural model of education pictured by a dedicated teacher in the US and Africa. You can read more about the exhibition’s engagement with the Waterville community in the Portland Press Herald.

The following Colby students curated the cabinet displays: Angelica Crites ‘16, Laurel Edington ‘15, Lindsay Freter ‘15, Cara Goldfarb ‘17, Sara Heilbronner ‘17, Katherine Mackey ‘16, Isabel Mackinnon ‘15, Lydia Nicholson ‘16, Jillian Palladino ‘16, Anya Peck ‘15, Barrie Tovar ‘15. They collaborated with Tanya Sheehan, Erin Rhodes (Archives Education Librarian, Special Collections), and Maggie Libby (Visual Resources Curator, Art Department and Special Collections).

Special thanks to John and Bunnie Picher of Vassalboro, Maine for lending photographs and other documents from the Picher and Poulain-LaVerdiere families, and to Sarah Sugden for permission to reproduce photographs from the collection of the Waterville Historical Society. The exhibition opening on April 24 was funded by the Center for the Arts and Humanities.