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Printer-Friendly ModeAssociate Professor's Memory Box features digital media, prose
January 23, 2006 —
The University Art Gallery will continue to showcase the Memory Box exhibit through Jan. 28. The exhibit, described as Installations and Digital Works, features pieces by Shaun Bangert, associate professor in the art department.
"A memory box is a place where you keep all your photos and mementos," Bangert says, explaining why she chose to title the exhibit Memory Box.
"It seemed appropriate since the show is about memory and how all of our experiences cause us to develop into the people we become."
The exhibit is a mixture of digital media and prose writing. One exhibit features photographs and life experiences (much like short stories) hanging from the ceiling on strings.
"Each of the pieces is about those things that make us who we are," Bangert says.
"In society we immediately judge a person on appearance alone. Everyone does it - it's just human nature. We can never know what is truly inside of someone and certainly not without getting to know them."
The pieces on display are personal and thought-provoking, as well as diverse in nature. While one deals with hotel rooms and personal space, another documents a two-week period in Bangert's life through pictures.
"At some level putting these pictures out in the world is cathartic," Bangert says. "It takes all the sadness, frustration, disappointment and makes it public and real."
Besides making her life public, Bangert also aims to make people think and maybe even help them.
"As humans we tend to hide the dark aspects of our lives from people around us bottling up all the emotion and thinking we're the only one going through this," she says. "I've learned that by showing images like this, it frees other people to talk about their experiences and realize they aren't alone."
The University Art Gallery is open from noon until 4 p.m. on Mondays, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
For more information about the University Art Gallery, contact Dave Littell at (989) 964-4159.