Campus Times Staff
“Homebound,” a student photography exhibition curated by Maxwell Sierra, senior photography major, is currently showing at the Ground Floor Gallery in Miller Hall.
“I came up with the theme ‘Homebound’ because with everyone returning to on-campus activities, a lot of people are also struggling mentally,” Sierra said. “I felt ‘Homebound’ was an easier way for people to reminisce and show a piece of them.”
Other photography students featured in the exhibit are: Ethan Bermudez, junior photography major; Armida Norma Carranza, senior photography major; Kaylie Ennis, senior photography major; Drake Ingram, senior criminology major; Robyn J’Nai Jones, senior journalism major; Darcelle Jones-Wesley senior photography major; Chris Rogers, sophomore photography major; and Kimberly Toth, junior photography major.
In order to get the show up and running, Sierra had to spread the word. The gallery needed to be reserved, and the images had to be received and then mounted in the Irene Carlson Gallery.
He enlisted the help of Lyndsay Bloom, photography department manager, and Rory Hamovit, adjunct professor of art and art history.
Bloom said she admired Sierra’s dedication to curating the exhibit and his vision and artistic excellence.
“I assisted (and) showed Max how to design and install the vinyl wall graphic show title. I also made sure Max included an exhibition title list for viewers to identify each work,” she said.
Inside the small gallery, spaced evenly along the walls are 10 photographic images by ULV students. Each image sheds light on the lives of the photographers.
Meanwhile, a monitor projects the photographer’s artist statements.
“I love the diversity of the work and seeing each student’s unique perspective and nuanced approach to capturing their own representation of home,” Bloom said.
One image in the gallery, “Beauphoria,” photographed by Drake Ingram, senior criminology major, was taken with a digital camera with an altered lens to give the image an infrared look.
Ingram said was on the train from Pomona riding home to Rancho Cucamonga when he decided to take his camera out and capture Claremont from his point of view.
“When I saw the image in front of me it made me feel warm, and it gave a sense of peacefulness,” Ingram said. “It also signified that the sunset shows that my work for the day was over.”
Sierra’s contribution includes two black-and-white film pieces. One titled “Legacy” was taken at one of the last dairy farms in Ontario. The other, “Dismantled,” was the remaining pieces of the dairy farm.
Sierra used a 120 millimeter film camera and black-and-white slide film. He chose film, instead of digital, he said, because photographing the land on digital files felt “replaceable,” just like the dairy farmland.
The exhibition reception will be from 5-6 p.m. Tuesday in the Gallery.
The Campus Times is the weekly student newspaper for the University of La Verne.
Natalie Medrano, a junior photography major, is the Fall 2022 photography editor for the Campus Times and a staff photographer for La Verne Magazine.
