Carolina Global Photography Exhibition opens in FedEx Global Education Center
March 18, 2024UNC Global Affairs
Finalists revealed at reception, on display through spring semester
On Thursday, Feb. 15, the mood in the FedEx Global Education Center was lively, celebratory, even inspired. That evening, students, faculty, staff, alumni and families gathered for the opening of the 2024 Carolina Global Photography Exhibition.
During her brief remarks, Carolina’s Vice Provost for Global Affairs and Chief Global Officer Barbara Stephenson recognized 10 different photographers and described the key themes that emerged from this year’s collection.
“Culture persists when its caretakers preserve it,” she said. “This exhibition showcases the importance of the preservation and resilience of culture, nature and humanity.”
The exhibit, comprising 34 photos taken by undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, faculty and alumni, weaves throughout the FedEx Global Education Center. The finalists were chosen from the most recent Carolina Global Photography Competition, which takes place every fall.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs (OVPGA) welcomes members of the community to view the exhibit, which starts in the Florence and James Peacock Atrium and continues on the second and third floors, anytime during its hours of operation: Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Work Friends” by Shristi Sharma
Carolina undergraduate student Shristi Sharma ’25 won first place in this year’s competition with her photo, “Work Friends.” In 2023, Sharma took the photo from the window of a moving car while in Munnar, India. The day before, she visited the nearby Tea Plantation Museum, where she learned about the colonization and exploitation of the land and workers on India’s tea plantations.
She took the photo of the Kanan Devan Hills Plantation in the state of Kerala. The company has preserved tea-producing techniques of the past while becoming one of the few producers in the world to position workers as stakeholders in the company. The company developed this model in the early 2010s so its employees could access public services and serve in leadership positions within the company.
Because of the company’s innovative approach, Sharma said, “They have become one of the best [tea] producers in the world, winning numerous awards. As soon as you respect something, it will give back.”
“Embers That Reach Heaven” by Alyssa Cooper
This year, the OVPGA recognized a photo that highlights a dichotomous balance between preservation and adaptation in Japan.
While in Japan, graduate student Alyssa Cooper ’22, ’25 (MPH) attended the annual Dōsojin Matsuri in Nozawa Onsen. Each year during the festival, villagers build a temporary shrine made entirely of wood, before setting it on fire as part of a centuries-long celebration. Cooper captured the image on her iPhone, without professional equipment or a strong background in photography.
“It is nice to be able to get really nice pictures and not have to have training or expensive equipment,” Cooper said.
According to Cooper, Nozawa Onsen has some of the best powder snow in the world. Since 1998, when it hosted the Olympic Biathlon, ski lodges, foreign business and tourists have been flowing into the community. While this has developed the village’s economy, she said it has created tension between those who seek to modernize and those who wish to preserve the village’s deep cultural history.
The festival celebrates the health and wellbeing of the villagers, encouraging participation from the entire community. When it comes to attendance, locals even have priority over tourists. According to Cooper, the festival’s longevity reflects the community’s ability to embrace adaptation and preservation simultaneously.
“There is tension,” she said. But the community is learning how to “honor generations of culture and history.”
“Freedom Park” by Mark Katz
Mark Katz, the John P. Baker Distinguished Professor of Music at UNC-Chapel Hill, captured the photo “Freedom Park.” Katz, also, is the founding director of Next Level, a UNC-based program that promotes cultural diplomacy through hip hop by sending U.S. artists abroad and bringing global artists to Carolina.
Katz took the photo in Lagos, Nigeria, while traveling with Next Level. He said the photo shows how a place can be an empowering symbol of the perseverance of culture and humanity. Nigerians converted the space — once a British prison — into a public park, renaming it “Freedom Park” to represent the resilience of the Nigerian people.
“The park preserves a very violent and tragic history,” Katz said. “And then they repurposed it into a space of freedom.”
He founded Next Level in 2013 as an initiative of the U.S. Department of State. The program provides artists the opportunity to develop their hip hop skills and engage in cultural diplomacy. “Freedom Park” is one of two of Katz’s photos chosen as a finalist.
“Paintings or Reality?” by Alyssa LaFaro
Alyssa LaFaro is the research communications manager for UNC Research and editor of “Endeavors.” She took her photo while working on a research project in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The project, overseen by Carolina’s Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences Professor Tamlin Pavelsky, is part of a larger NASA project, called the Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission (SWOT). SWOT aims to measure all the water in the world.
LaFaro took the photo of the braided Waimakariri River, which is the focus of Pavelsky’s research project. The river changes path every day. And according to LaFaro, the photo exemplifies larger changes that are occurring in water systems globally.
“The goal of a project like this,” LaFaro said, “is to talk more about how our water systems are changing and how we can work with those changes rather than against them, to prevent further harm to the environment both ecologically and to humans.”
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The 2024 Carolina Global Photography Exhibition includes 34 photos, each with its own story of preservation and resilience. Among the 34 finalists, there were three overall winners, six area studies center spotlights selected to represent different world regions and one recognized by the OVPGA. For information about future competitions and exhibitions, go here.
“I think folks should come [to the exhibit] because it’s pretty mind-blowing how global our students, faculty and staff are,” LaFaro said. “The Carolina Global Photography Exhibition is a great, physical representation of how far UNC reaches.”
Those who are unable to view the gallery in person, in the FedEx Global Education Center, from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., are welcome to view the virtual gallery.
FedEx Global Education Center
301 Pittsboro Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.