recent highlights:
- jim mangan visits usuphoto
- lele bonizzi wins usu robins award talent of the year
- senior bfa students open capstone exhibition, ‘unleaded’
- prof. ragland exhibits in houston, chicago, tampa
- usuphoto at spe
- prof. soukhakian solo exhibition at blue sky
six bfa seniors open capstone exhibition, unleaded, apr. 1-12
Apr. 1, 2024
BFA thesis projects by six USUPhoto seniors is on view as part of USU’s annual BFA capstone exhibition at the Tippets and Eccles Galleries.
The exhibition, Unleaded, runs April 1-12, 2024, features works by BFA photography candidates Lele Bonizzi, CJ Cheney, Olivia Ethington, Kennedy Fry, Sam Greene, and Kenzli Todd alongside works by 18 senior BFA students from printmaking, painting, sculpture, and ceramics.
The Tippetts & Eccles Galleries is located in the Fine Arts Center and is open Monday–Friday from 9–5pm. A virtual walk-through of the exhibition is available here. The USUPhoto Instagram feed will feature each student’s work during the exhibition run.
At USU Photo, we are guided in our belief in photography’s critical role in contemporary culture. Through the making, learning, and sharing of images, we encourage students to utilize photography as a tool for compassionate citizenship, meaningful storytelling, and impactful social change. The photography students in this year’s graduating BFA class have embodied that mission with aplomb, and over the last year-and-a-half have dedicated themselves to building sustained bodies of work that balance personal insights with critical engagement in a wide variety of social and cultural concerns.
The BFA projects explore the heart-rending complexities of family and community—from leaving one home and cleaving to another; of confronting the tragedies of dementia and memory loss; of finding connection through maternal bonds, both biological and adoptive; and building community and identity while challenging binary cultural systems. Other projects vulnerably engage with the seen and unseen ramifications of trauma—from experiences with depression and attempted suicide to childhood sexual assault. In each, these artists have chosen the poetic over the didactic, collectively resisting the sensational for subtle and nuanced visual metaphor and symbolism. And in each they welcome us to join them in thoughtfulness, beauty, and empathy.
We couldn’t be more proud of the thoughtful, vulnerable, and well crafted work this BFA cohort has created.
An ancillary show featuring a selection of “b-sides” from each thesis project is on view in the USU Projects Gallery April 1-5.