recent highlights:
- senior lele bonizzi premiers one-act play on photography
- prof. soukhakian opens show at material slc
- prof. ragland publishes in justice quarterly
- alumna bailey rigby in utah state today
- lele bonizzi wins usu robins award talent of the year
- senior bfa students open capstone exhibition, ‘unleaded’
- prof. ragland exhibits in houston, chicago, tampa
- prof. soukhakian solo exhibition at blue sky
bfa senior lele bonizzi premieres ‘what stillness tells me,’ a one-act play transforming the stage into a darkroom
August 13, 2024
“What Stillness Tells Me,” a one-act play collaboratively created by and starring USU senior BFA photography major Lele Bonizzi and USU Theatre Arts alumnus Levi Hopkins ‘24, will premiere for one-night only, August 24, 2024 at 7:30pm in USU’s Black Box Theatre.
A young man visits a photography studio for a portrait, but as the photographer asks questions, everything is not as it seems. Through the real-time creation of an historical wet-plate collodion photograph, the characters and portrait develop in tandem, revealing the vulnerabilities and complexities of who we are and how we are remembered.
With a script written by Hopkins and inspired by Roland Barthes’ seminal book, “Camera Lucida,” the show explores the correlation between photography, theatre, and death and will transform the USU Black Box Theatre into a working darkroom.
“What Stillness Tells Me,” is made with support of a USU Caine College of the Arts Summer Arts Research Grant and the USU Department of Art + Design.
Seating is limited to 90 seats and General Admission tickets are available from the USU Box Office for $15. Tickets can be purchased online at this link: USU Events.
“What Stillness Tells Me,” is intended for mature audiences (ages 13+ only) and features strong language, blue humor, and heavy subject matter.
Levi Hopkins (BFA Theatre Arts ‘24) is an actor, singer, and writer. Professional credits include: five seasons with Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, the Lyric Repertory Company, and the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (The Jimmy Awards). “What Stillness Tells Me” is Hopkins’ second one-act play; in 2023 Hopkins’ “For You, Love Me,” was supported by a USU Caine College of the Arts Summer Arts Research Grant.
Eleonora Lele Bonizzi is a fine arts documentary photographer whose work explores critical social issues, with particular emphasis on LGBTQ+ rights and immigration. Currently a senior BFA major in photography at USU, Bonizzi has exhibited their work nationally and internationally. Bonizzi is the recipient of Ralph T. Clark scholarship, 2023 and 2024 USU SARG fellowships, and is a 2024 USU Peak Fellow and USU Robins Awards Talent of the Year.
Ticket info:
CCA Box Office
M-F 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
L101, Chase Fine Arts Center, USU Campus
435.797.8022 https://utahstateaggies.evenue.net/events/MCCA
prof. jared ragland featured in exhibition at alabama contemporary art center
August 09, 2024
Jared Ragland, Phenix City, Russell County, Alabama—Michael
Seven pictures from Assistant Professor Jared Ragland’s ongoing project, What Has Been Will Be Again, each part of The Do Good Fund collection, are on view in As Pretty Does at the Alabama Contemporary Art Center in Mobile, Ala., Aug. 9-Oct. 19, 2024. Curated by Micah Mermilliod, the exhibition also features photographs by Lucinda Bunnen, Keith Calhoun, Rosalind Fox Solomon, Jill Frank, Carlos Gustavo, Betty Press, and Mark Steinmetz.
From the press release:
Growing up in the Deep South often feels like growing up in a different time or country. The unique landscape, history and ways of being stand apart from the monolith of mainstream culture. Viewed from the outside as backwards and lacking; stereotypes of southerness are inert, and fail to include the South’s true complexity, enduring charm, and diversity. The reality of the South is lived, active and chosen every day. There’s a colloquialism here that “pretty is as pretty does,” or in other words, pleasant behavior always outweighs pleasant looks.
In this exhibition, featuring work from eight photographers collected by The Do Good Fund of Columbus, GA, each artist captures what we do—a farmer fashioning a scarecrow for his garden, parading dancers, or a brass band performing for a church service. These images convey the ways we live, with intricate layers of identity and belonging woven into the fabric of Southern life. These are decisive moments. Intimate portraits and landscapes alike embody the spirit of the South as lived and living.
As Pretty Does celebrates ways of being, the familiar and unexpected alike. Through the lenses of these photographers, history and modernity intersect, and the ordinary becomes extraordinary. While not always traditionally beautiful, the allure, honesty, and unpredictability found in these everyday moments resonates like jazz through humid Southern air.
Curated by Micah Mermilliod in partnership with The Do Good Fund. The Do Good Fund is a collection of contemporary, post World War II photographs capturing the rich culture in the Southeastern United States. Since 2012 this public based Georgia charity has collected works from Guggenheim Fellows and emerging regional artists alike, and stands as one of the most complete artistic views of modern Southern living.
For more info, visit the ACAC website.
prof. fazilat soukhakian opens solo exhibition at material, slc
July 30, 2024
Associate Professor Fazilat Soukhakian will open “Under the Same Sky,” August 9-September 20, 2024 at Material in Salt Lake City. An opening is scheduled for Aug. 9, with an artist talk at 5:30pm and reception at 6-9pm.
Through this exhibition, Soukhakian invites viewers to a visual dialogue that transcends borders and fosters empathy. “Under the Same Sky” is a journey through time and space, captured through personal experience and observation. The collection spans from 2006 to the present, reflecting dual perspectives from Iran to the United States. Despite the stark differences between these societies, the photographs highlight universal themes of pain, loss, grief, inequality, discrimination, and injustice that transcend geographical boundaries.
The exhibition marks the first anniversary of Material and Soukhakian’s first solo exhibition in Salt Lake City.
In addition to the Aug. 9 opening, the exhibition will be available for viewing on Friday, August 16, 6-8pm as part of Salt Lake City’s Gallery Stroll, during the closing reception on Friday, September 20, 6-8pm, and by appointment with the gallery. Material is located at 2970 S W Temple Street.
For more information, visit the Material gallery website.
prof. jared ragland publishes in justice quarterly journal
June 27 , 2024
Jared Ragland, Libra, 26, from The Circle.
A new article, coauthored by USU Assistant Professor of Photography Jared Ragland and University of Alabama at Birmingham social scientists Heith Copes, Curdajah Bonner, and Peter S. Hendricks has been published in the journal, Justice Quarterly. “Being Better People: Drug Using Careers and Peyote” combines photographs, interview texts, and analysis to understand how narratives, identities, and specific drugs shape experiences. The article is available to those with institutional access here. An abstract of the article is below.
The eight photographs published in the journal are part of Ragland’s series The Circle, and were made in collaboration with study participants, with each person directing where and how they were photographed as a means of visualizing their personal experiences with peyote.
Justice Quarterly was listed by Google Scholar in its most recent rankings as the top academic journal in the discipline of criminology.
Abstract:
Our aim is to understand how narratives relating to personal identities and specific drugs shape people’s drug using careers. To do this, we rely on data from a photo-ethnography of people who used peyote in ceremonial contexts in the Southern United States. We found that the desire to become better people plot stories at each stage of their careers. The hope of positive personal change (e.g. heal trauma or break addiction) often motivates decisions to try peyote, while those who continue using do so because they believe peyote has aided in personal growth. Some desist because the discomfort from the acute effects of peyote outweighs the long-term benefits. Others stop using do so because they believe peyote has helped them reach their goals and they no longer need to continue. Findings have implications for broader understandings of drug using careers.
alumna bailey rigby featured in utah state today
June 26 , 2024
Bailey Rigby, Claire, from I Was Meant to Make a Garden of This Land.
Alumna Bailey Rigby (BFA ‘23) is featured in this week’s edition of Utah State Today. The piece, USU Grad Bailey Rigby Earns Acclaim for Research-Based Storytelling Through Photography, highlights Rigby’s creative journey and professional successes following graduation.
Bailey serves as a gallerist at Salt Lake City’s Modern West, and she is currently at work on a photographic series titled, I Was Meant to Make a Garden of This Land. The work intertwines opposing storylines of religious pilgrimage and faith crises within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has been recently featured in 15 Bytes Magazine, Juxtapoz Magazine, and Float Magazine. Selections from the series are currently on view in Modern West’s Summer Salon and USU’s Annual Local Artist Exhibition.
For more info and to view Bailey’s work, visit: baileyrigby.com.