The seriously moving work of 13 senior RIT photojournalism
students is currently on display in the William Harris Gallery (Gannett Hall,
third floor, Rochester Institute of Technology, 70 Lomb Memorial Drive). The
exhibition, “First Comes Trust,” is
the capstone event for their study in the School of Photographic Arts and
Sciences, celebrating a year-long documentary project.
Each of the students (Donny Bajohr, Heather Casey, Zack
DeClerck, Kyle Hofsass, Alyssa Hunter, Sarah Ann Jump, Rugile Kaladyte, Maureen
MacGregor, Evan Ortiz, Kelly Jo Smart, Elijah Walker, Niki Walker, and Dan
Witkowski) have spent the last year concentrating on one theme, honing not only
technique, but also the ability to form respectful relationships with their
subjects. Over time and through focused practice, the students learned to
intuit when to give space and when to seize the moment. The project’s blog documents key epiphanies in
the students’ own words, and previews some of the stunning photographs.
Subjects include a 12-year-old girl who struggles with the
normal growing pains while her vision steadily degrades, the country-western
culture surrounding a bar-as-microcosm in Henrietta, the daily life and
struggles of a transgender woman, a case study of chronic homelessness, suicide
in Lithuania, and a teenager who strives to find balance between school,
motherhood, and the complicated relationship with the father of her son.
Sarah Ann Jump followed a refugee family from Congo for one
past year, from the minute they stepped out of the airport to the present. Jump’s
work was
recognized with a Student Award of Excellence by the Alexia Foundation.
During her first year at RIT, Kelly Jo Smart met a group of
Malaysian students, sponsored by their government to study at the school, and continued
to work with them throughout her studies. Still engaged with the progression of
their story, Smart created a Kickstarter campaign and raised the money to
travel back to Malaysia with the women.
The students themselves selected the exhibition title, which
is taken from a quote by the late Michel du Cille, who was a three-time
Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist for the Washington Post. “No pictures
yet. I haven’t taken my camera. First comes trust, then the work,” du Cille
said to his editor in 1987, during a months-long project photographing life
inside a Miami crack house.
The students chose this quote as it represents a central
theme in documentary work: “the necessity of establishing the level of
mutual understanding with a subject that ultimately leads to visual candor,” per
the press release.
The students will discuss their work this Thursday, at 7
p.m. in the same gallery where it is exhibited. “First Comes Trust” will remain
on view through Friday. For more info, call 475-2716, or click here.
For more art events, visit CITY’s calendar!
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2015.
