By: Rebecca Capozzi | Staff Writer and Treasurer
Sitting in a restaurant. Sitting next to a friend in class. Seeing other people’s smiles. Having a plentiful supply of toilet paper and cleaning supplies. These are just a few things that were a regular part of our lives one year ago. These are things that we took advantage of.
Life has changed drastically over this past year, and things that were unusual a year ago are the new normal. In the Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery located in Antone Academic Center, there is an exhibit of nearly 250 images submitted by a group of 72 students. This exhibit is called Art in the Age of Pandemic: A Salve Student Photo Project. The images in the exhibit are of things that have shaped our daily lives in the pandemic. When I took the time to walk through the gallery, there were several photos that stood out to me.
One of the photos that caught my eye was a photo of a bride. She looked absolutely beautiful, from her gorgeous dress to her incredible hair and makeup. What caught my eye, however, was that she was wearing a mask. This poor bride: she had probably spent her entire life dreaming of her wedding day, but she never could have expected the reality of it. This was the reality of so many couples during this past year. Many postponed their wedding, and are still waiting to walk down the aisle. Some couples, on the other hand, decided to have their weddings despite the circumstances. Although their days were definitely not what they were expecting them to be, I am sure that they were all special and meaningful in their own ways. The pandemic did not stop this bride from having her special day.
Another photo that caught my eye was one of an open coffin at what looked like a wake service. This photo broke my heart. So many people have gone through so many hardships during this pandemic. COVID-19 took so many lives from us. The death of a close one is heartbreaking under normal circumstances, and so especially during a pandemic. Many people were unable to hold services for their loved ones, leaving many to grieve alone. This can take a huge toll on a person’s mental health. Many people’s mental health has suffered during the pandemic and having to grieve the loss of a loved one without the support of others can worsen that. I can only hope that people who have lost and are losing loved ones during this pandemic find a way to grieve that will bring them peace.
“I hope that visitors to the show can take with them a sense that yes, we are separated, we are physically distanced from each other, but we are all living through this together,” Parenti said.
Grace Parenti, class of 2022, was one of the 72 students to participate in this project. Dr. Anthony Mangieri, Chairman of the Art and Art History Department, felt that this would be a great experience for her, since she wants to go into museum studies and collections management in the future.
One of the photos that Parenti submitted for the project was one of her at the Preservation Society of Newport County, where she was a textile collections intern in the fall. In the photo, she is wearing a mask and a pair of gloves. “While working I wore a mask and gloves to abide by the COVID regulations,” Parenti said. “I would switch the type of gloves I used to handle the boxes and the textiles, as I used latex gloves while working around the building per the COVID rules, but I had to use cotton ones to handle the historic garments.”
She wanted this picture in the exhibit because it shows just how different life in the workplace is during the pandemic. She has to continuously change the types of gloves that she is wearing in order to make sure that she is properly conserving the artifacts and, of course, not contaminating anything in the building with germs. In addition, she has to wear a mask for the entirety of her shifts. As we all know, wearing a mask for an extended period of time can be exhausting. Unfortunately, it is just something that we are all going to have to deal with for the time being.
There are so many reasons for students to visit this exhibit. It proves that no one is going through this hard time alone. “I’m hoping that visitors to the gallery see a bit of their own experience with COVID within the many pictures on display,” Parenti said. “The whole point of the exhibit is to showcase student’s experiences whilst living through this unprecedented time. There are photos of friends together wearing masks, people waving to their grandparents through a window, the signs that we see every day reminding us about masks and other COVID regulations, and just various experiences that everyone has shared.”
This project is one that any student can easily relate to: although this pandemic has been difficult to live through, it will be part of the history books. Alix Hughes, class of 2021 and a gallery monitor for the Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery, thinks that all students should partake in this project. “This will be a time in history at the university that people will look back on,” Hughes said. “We are the years of COVID at Salve and although it stinks, it is something all of us have in common. It is so great to see these pictures and know that we may be apart, but we are still together.”
If any students want to get involved in this project, participation is easy: “[Students] can send us pictures on Instagram by tagging us @salveart. Either by posting it on their grid and tagging us, putting it on their story and tagging us, or DMing the Instagram account if that works as well,” Hughes said.
The more people that get involved in this project, the better and more successful it will be. People need to know that they are not alone in this. We are all experiencing these hardships, so no one should feel like they have to be going through life alone right now. “I hope that visitors to the show can take with them a sense that yes, we are separated, we are physically distanced from each other, but we are all living through this together,” Parenti said.
This exhibit in the Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery is open now until February 18th, 2021. You can visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Wednesdays and Fridays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
