Filtered images of Gasson and snowy lawns have come to rule Boston College’s digital landscape, with students coming in frequent contact with the idyllic pictures of the University, scrolling through them on Instragram in between classes. Hike up the contrast, and the mundane can appear exciting. The exhibit hosted and collected by the Office of Student Affairs takes these popular digital images and blows them up beyond their initial touchscreen size. Plastered along the walls of Maloney, these works bring the digital work we’ve come accustomed to back into the real world.
Back in late September and early October, the Office of Student Affairs began to advertise that it was collecting photos from students that showed what BC meant to them. It said there would only be a few works that were going to be displayed in the gallery and that the gallery would showcase different parts of BC.
There were a total of 19 photos that were displayed in the lobby of the Office of Student Affairs. The photos were strewed across the walls of the room in no specific arrangement. Although viewers can most likely make their way around the gallery in less than 15 minutes, the smaller size of the gallery does not detract from its significance. The 19 selected worked show off a range of talents and photographic styles.
Most of the pictures featured iconic places at BC, from Gasson, to the reservoir, to Conte Forum. Submissions were allowed to be taken with any type of camera, which meant that applicants could submit work using an iPhone. With this kind of openness, amateur photographers with nothing more than their phones were given a chance to show what they could do with less of a background in photography. Some of the most beautiful shots of BC can be found on iPhones across campus. Some photos did not have the best quality once they were blown up to a larger size, but the meaning of the photographs is still evident.
Extensive editing helped bring out more of the reds in the sunset and the blues in the sky. Submissions were included from students of all ages, showcasing the wide range of student experiences, spanning from orientation to senior year events. Overall, the gallery gives students a good idea of memories that are found throughout Boston College. It also harkens back to summer heat and sunshine that we’ve all missed for a few months now.
The gallery is a nice place to take a breather and to check out the variety of places featured in the photos. For future galleries, it would be interesting to actually have students have their own display in the larger gallery located in Devlin to really give a larger showcase of the different works that students submit—other forms of media such as drawings of BC or written submissions really showing what meant the most to students could be a nice way to enlarge this project.
In its entirety, the rotating gallery served its purpose of showing off those little moments at BC, bringing the ’Gram’s greatest hits to the majestic walls of Maloney.
Featured Images By Alex Stanley / Heights Staff
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