ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE ITEM MANAGEMENT
Nico Brubaker

My genre highlights our culture of avoiding the shame associated with consumption. For example, the concept of “throwing something away” is linguistically comforting - not only does it center on the fun action of “throwing” something into a trash can, but there’s no such thing as “away”. What we toss doesn’t just disappear. This genre was informed by working at the Target guest service desk, and being trained to reassure guests that no return was too frivolous, even if I was going to throw it away the moment they left. In the face of climate change and increasing consumption worldwide, maybe there should be a little shame in wasting what we don’t have to.

DOMESTIC CAMOUFLAGE
Emma Cameron

I’m intrigued by camouflage and wanted to apply this phenomenon to the domestic sphere. My interpretation of camouflage is a less literal one in that I allow my subjects to be a bit more visible in the photographs than what we are used to seeing with animals, for instance. This idea stemmed from my experience of being trapped at home, during the pandemic, with nowhere to go. The “domestic camouflage” genre refers to needing a spot to hide in or run away to. It is meant to symbolize an escape, whether from horrible current events in the world or from fights or frustrations that one might experience in their own house. In these pictures, as the subject blends in with her surroundings, she is able to escape her human life and retreat to a more comfortable inanimate object.

CHEERFUL CHORES
Amelia Giles

For my genre assignment, I decided to tackle a type of photography that feels exceedingly important during this time of pandemic; cleaning. Personally, I have never been a fan of cleaning and it can be extremely dull. In my family, my chore load instantly increased when we went into quarantine and these household tasks became much less enjoyable. I discovered a few tactics and wanted to enlighten other chore-ridden teens with my techniques to make their housework more bearable. In complete honestly, these practices may not be the most dignified, but in my book, it’s better to have a little fun with yourself, as embarrassing as it may be, than to waste your time with unfulfilling and boring activities that have the capability to be gratifying. These techniques include listening to music, singing aloud, getting a little dressed up, and dancing with your cleaning implements. I hope to teach you a few tactics to make your chores more enjoyable through this project, or at the very least give you a little laugh.

APPROPRIATION AND APPRECIATION
Fletcher Grumbach 

For the past half century, Christianity has been on the cultural decline. As western religion takes up less and less space in the cultural zeitgeist, a new brand of philosophy has come to fill the void left by religion. Many Californians have embraced eastern religions and ‘spirituality’ to replace Christianity. This phenomenon is exemplified by the figure of Jerry Brown, who labeled himself a more amorphous ‘spiritual’ rather than tying himself to a religious label. This trend began in the 60’s as hippies turned toward Zen Buddhist traditions to offer a counter to what they saw as an overly-consumerist culture. The problem is Eastern religions often make little sense in the cultural context of Abrahamic religions. Christianity is based around the idea of a singular ‘soul’, an individual, unique identity that has bled into our western notions of self. Eastern religion often focuses more on a collective, more fluid identity, and Eastern religions often don’t exactly translate to the terms of Western religious thought. In my project I wanted to investigate what forces drive so many Californians to turn to Eastern religion, how this relates to cultural appropriation and what is lost in translation between Buddhism and the West.

DESK PHOTOGRAPHY
Zach Gurion 

My genre is based off the idea that a private space will reveal something about a person. I investigated how my family members and I used our desks during quarantine and noticed that we changed our previous interaction with them. Before the pandemic, my parents used their desks primarily as their home workspace. They soon shifted their work to other areas of the house. Their desks became more like how I ordinarily used a desk: as just a place to put things. I, on the other hand, started to take better care of arranging and cleaning my desk. My brother never used his desk before and still doesn’t. I usually viewed desks as mundane, professional furniture. However, now, given that people are spending so much time at their desk, they seem to be revealing something more personal.

WORN & TORN PHOTOGRAPHY 
Santiago Herrera

Dings, bumps, scratches, scrapes, dents, scuffs, defects and wear is something we try to avoid day to day. But why? We go out of our way to keep things perfect when nothing is meant to be perfect. Would someone hate to get their shoe scuffed, find their car paint chipped or look in the mirror and see break out? Yes, but this is of no real consequence or harm. It’s all natural and just a part of life. This phenomenon happens even with skaters, which I find amusing. Skaters, on the other hand, might complain that a ledge is too well worn, and because of that, barely skateable! Some long for perfection, others want imperfection. Whichever group you are a part of you can be sure you’ll want what you don’t have. We don’t need to be straining and going out of our way to avoid small blemishes in our lives, none of it is going to cause any big harm. Everything is going to be ok if you get a stain on your shirt, or you get that small dent in your car, just live your life as if it wasn’t there.

BENEFICIAL DECEPTIONS
Sophie Jones

During the pandemic, I found myself playing more board games than I otherwise would. As I did, I began to notice that I was engaging in lessons of strategy, collaboration, and teamwork. That is when I realized that games are a beneficial deception. They teach the players skills even though they are marketed under the guise of entertainment. I began to wonder what other beneficial deceptions I could find, and the number was astonishing. Take “Little Red Riding Hood” for instance, within the story of the girl and the wolf, there is the distinct message, “Don’t talk to strangers,” but it is softened for young children. These lessons are also present in “Hansel and Gretel” and many other stories. While looking for examples around my house, I found beneficial deceptions that we use in our everyday life, as when we tell people about Santa or the stork, or when we tell someone that the cupcake they baked looks delicious, so that we do not harm their innocence or self-esteem. In short, beneficial deceptions are small lies or omissions that enable us to deliver softened messages and lessons or maintain relationships by preserving the well-being of the deceived.

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR: INDEPENDENCE IN A PANDEMIC
Anthony Latone

The goal of most teens is to be independent, but what does that look like in a pandemic? Independence seems almost impossible in this time while we find ourselves so reliant on others. Even though we are made aware of our need for others, feelings of perpetual isolation are widespread. Without the ability to be independent, our focus is often replaced with a desire for connection. In my series, I explore the difference between independence and interdependence, and between isolation and connection.

TRUE BIRDS
Michael Mooney

Bird photography is a precise and painstaking activity. The photographer must be ready to spend days searching for birds before selecting a single photo that captures its subject in a thousandth of a second, wings outstretched, head facing towards the camera. The bird should be colorful or a predator (anything that draws the eye). After taking the picture, the photographer can spend hours of their time editing to create the perfect color, composition, etc.

All of this works to create the “ideal” photo of birds--how society believes they should look--beautiful, majestic, dangerous, awe-inspiring. But what about all of the other moments when the bird doesn’t look so regal? Birds are not picture perfect as National Geographic and the Audubon Society would have us believe.

My genre, “True Birds,” revolves around the idea of taking photos of birds that not idealized. In a way, imperfections are perfect, and best of all, they are real. These are shots of how birds truly are.

IRONIC HOLIDAYS
Sally Ume-Ukeje

When we celebrate holidays it is always on a specific day, and we don’t often question why that is. In this series, every photograph is connected to a different holiday which includes Earth day, International Women’s day, Valentines day, and Christmas. Each one has a different composition that goes with it which is meant to demonstrate the deeper meaning behind what we are observing. We know that earth day is meant to better and celebrate the earth, International Women’s day is meant to honor women, Christmas is a time to give to others, and Valentines day is when we show our love to people. But shouldn’t we be showing love and appreciation to people beyond their holidays designated day or month. The aim through my genre is to try and show how the things we often celebrate are reduced down to one day when we should be acknowledging them all the time.

Mirror Portrait Photography
Hannah Urisman

For this project, I created the genre of “mirror portrait photography.” This genre allows artists to explore concepts of perception and examination, specifically of the self. In my series, “I See…” I explored how we see aspects of our internal identity in our physical form. I asked my family members what they saw or thought about when they looked in the mirror, and they all had different answers. My mom said she saw her resemblance to her parents; my dad said he saw age spots; my brother said he saw stubble; and I saw my features. All of these external things we perceive about ourselves pertain to our internal identity. The many facets of our identity (family, age, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.) manifest in our person. When we see ourselves in the mirror, we see the physical culmination of all of these internal parts of ourselves. Through this series and this genre, I have attempted to examine this concept of perception of the self.

SILLY SHOES!
Alexandra Wythes

From Cinderella’s glass slipper to Dorothy’s ruby slippers, shoes have been an integral part of fairy tales. They can symbolize a person's socioeconomic status, fashion sense, and story. My genre’s aim is to look at the role that shoes have played in society and how that is a carryover from children’s books. In our culture, shoes operate as a form of social rank and have been stereotyped to carry out particular tasks. For example, you would not wear your slippers to a fancy dinner, or your dress shoes to a ball game. I’ve decided to play with the idea of a shoes’ fixed purpose and their relegated “place” in our minds and our stories.