The seven recipients of this year’s HWGo! Fellowships presented their findings from their trips to faculty and friends Sept. 19 in the Kutler Center. Most of the presentations consisted of a slideshow and a media supplement, which included photo collages and videos. The event lasted around three hours and included a 30-minute reception in addition to the presentations themselves.
Student Presentations
Scarlett Strasberg ’20, Abe Kaye ’20, Chronicle Photography Editor Caitlin Chung ’20, Otis Gordon ’20, Haley Levin ’20, Alex Daum ’20 and Amelia Koblentz ’20 presented their findings from the fellowships.
Chung presented first, speaking about the experiences of Korean “Comfort Women” during World War II. Chung presented a series of photos and documents in Rugby Hall Tower depicting the Wednesday Protest, a weekly protest in Korea regarding the sexual slavery system established during World War II.
Kaye’s presentation, which was about the experiences of the Dutch during the Holocaust, was more photo-based. While in the Netherlands over the summer, he spoke with several inhabitants that had lived or had relatives living during the Holocaust.
Gordon, whose fellowship was about traditional Japanese arts, also screened a documentary instead of showing a typical slideshow for his presentation.
“My documentary included a series of interviews with people in Japan talking about the role that bonsai played in twenty-first century life and how traditional arts influenced our art scene as well,” Gordon said.
For her presentation about “The Artifacts of the American Road,” Levin shared photos that she took of her journey across the country. She said that the purpose of her trip was to learn more about the history of road-trip photography in the United States.
“[In my presentation], I used photos that I took during my road trip to Texas to make a series of works and paintings,” Levin said. “One [of my works] was this big painting that I made, and I also did two collages and painted on some other photos.”
The series of presentations concluded with Gordon’s exhibition of the bonsai trees that he took care of while in Japan. Gordon said that he was nervous being the final presenter and hoped to keep the audience’s energy up. Nevertheless, he said that his experience was amazing as he shared his bonsai tree trip to Japan with the audience.
Student’s Thoughts
Levin said that, though she enjoyed the event, she would have liked to see more students attend and see the amazing work that students had done during their fellowships.
“I just think it’s very cool to have a place where I can see how impressive the students at this school are because sometimes you forget,” Levin said. “But then you get reminded when you come to an event like this, and it really is just mind-blowing.”
