UNC-Chapel Hill Celebrates 21st Annual Carolina Global Photography Exhibition Through Retrospective
March 1, 2021UNC Global Affairs
Portrait of Kinkilla by Jonathan Young ’10. Germán Alarcón Cornejo, known also as the Peruvian water color artist "Kinkulla", stands before the mountains of Chincheros, Peru after completing a painting of the scene.
The 21st annual Carolina Global Photography Competition took place last fall in the form of a retrospective, and the work of select photographers will be on display at the FedEx Global Education Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from March 1 through July 1, 2021.
Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the Carolina Global Photography Competition did not seek new submissions for the 2020-21 cycle. Instead, UNC Global presents a retrospective on twenty years of stunning and inspiring images taken from all over the world by UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, staff and alumni. Over 8,000 photos from the competition archives were reviewed, and 36 standout photos were selected.
The exhibition features diverse world regions and themes as depicted through photography taken across the world, from Rwanda to South Korea to Antarctica. The exhibition highlights a range of global activity, educational opportunities and research completed through UNC-Chapel Hill over the last two decades.
One of the oldest photos featured is from the 2005-2006 competition was taken by Erin Simonds, a former research technician at the UNC School of Medicine, and depicts the outskirts of Innsbruck, Austria. Many photographers whose work is featured have since graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, and now work in a wide array of fields and locations. Daniel Acker ’11 submitted a photograph as an undergraduate for the 2008-09 competition of a temple in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Acker now serves in the U.S. Foreign Service and has been posted in the Middle East and Canada. Other featured photographers now work in the arts, biotechnology, counseling and academia in locations ranging from North Carolina to South Africa.
The Global Photography Competition Retrospective exhibit will also be displayed on the UNC Global Photography Competition website. For those viewing the exhibition in person, please follow the University’s COVID-19 Community Standards. Face masks are required inside all University buildings. FedEx Global Education Center hours are 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The exhibition is co-sponsored by the African Studies Center; Carolina Asia Center; Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies; Center for European Studies; Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies; Curriculum in Global Studies; Global Research Institute; Institute for the Study of the Americas; International Student and Scholar Services; Study Abroad Office and the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs.
Exhibition contact: Ingrid Smith, interim director of communications and events, ingrid.smith@unc.edu