Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

D Y S O N Y E A R I N R E V I E W 2 0 2 2 – 2 0 2 3 10 I magine discovering an old shoebox brimming with memorable events from your life, a treasure trove of photographic imagery that feels like an unexpected exercise in time travel. You randomly—or maybe intentionally—pick up one photo, then another, and still another. A process has been set in motion and something is stirred: a curiosity to know more, perhaps even a revelation or breakthrough. Now, consider being presented with thousands of photos that span two decades of key moments in the life of an entire nation, with the mission to curate a small representative sampling for an exhibit. That exhibit is Continued Relevance: News Photos from the George Stephanopoulos Collection, which was on view at the Pace University A Gallery on the New York City campus from November to January. And the challenge went to Dyson students enrolled in three separate courses during the fall 2022 semester. The result of this process was a select total of 54 images, each carefully chosen by a student and displayed with their personal commentary, from a gi of more than 1,400 historic news photos from the veteran news analyst and former White House Director of Communications George Stephanopoulos. The images were primarily taken by legendary photojournalists of the 1960s and 1970s working for major news agencies such as the Associated Press, and cover themes including the civil rights movement, John F. Kennedy's presidency, the Vietnam War, and related activism. The Curation Process What does it mean to curate an exhibit? And through what lens or lenses does the curator's eye behold? Curation is not simply an editorial process; in fact, the word curate comes from the Latin "curar," which means "to take care of." It is a process that is not accidental, but rather, intentional, with the role of a curator carrying weight and a sense of fidelity—to the a ist, the audience, and the subject ma er. It was in this vein that students, under the guidance of their respective professors Inbal Abergil, MFA, Sarah Cunningham, MFA, and Emilie Zaslow, PhD, engaged in their own unique processes and explored the myriad possibilities of these images for future educational use, historical analysis, and a istic appreciation. Caitlin Pingree '23, Communication and Media Studies and English, who was enrolled in the Current Media in New York course, first felt overwhelmed by the number of photos to choose from, but as time went on, realized she was waiting to find something that spoke to her on not just an a istic but a sociocultural level. Ultimately, her selection was the iconic photo by Stanley Tretick of President John F. Kennedy si ing at his desk in the Oval Office with his son peeking out from under the table. She said, "I chose this photo because I loved the dichotomy of having the older and younger Kennedy generations in the same photo. I wanted people to remember a time when there was such vitality in the White House and how different that youthful, hopeful energy is from today's climate." In general, Pingree saw the collection with a very contemporary Revisiting History Students curate exhibit of historic newspaper photos from collection gi ed by George Stephanopoulos. Hasan Akinyele, '23 selecting a photo by Frank C. Cu in, Reverse Freedom Riders, Associated Press, 1962.

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