Photography Student Showcase
Introduction
In normal times an exhibition of Photography Student work is mounted in our on-campus gallery. It is an opportunity to step back and view current work by students in their freshman year and up through our graduating seniors.
Although the spring exhibition will be online rather than in the gallery, it still affords us the chance to view a collection of photographs that clearly demonstrate the students’ creativity, enthusiasm, and technical skills. The work viewed here is a diverse collection of images from a variety of assignments covering topics such as traditional black and white film, color, studio photography, infrared, digital manipulation, and collage.
Happily, the work of two students was recently exhibited in a physical gallery in addition to being shown here. The photographs of graduating seniors China Alvarado and Keishla Manzano were a part of their BFA exhibitions that were shown at the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology this Spring. Their solo exhibitions were a culmination of nearly a years’ labor developing these bodies of work.
Laura Snyder
Professor, Photography
Senior BFA Exhibitions
Villa Maria College BFA Thesis Exhibitions represent two semesters of research and experimentation and the culmination of years of higher education. Rather than a collection of interesting images that have no connection other than through their author, these exhibitions are examples of well thought out concepts that have been developed into a cohesive body of work.
China Alvarado
China Alvarado is a photographer based in Buffalo, NY. In May of 2022 she earned her BFA in Photography from Villa Maria College. Her photographic practice focus on landscape, architecture, and commercial photography. Alvarado’s favorite color is blue.
Artist’s Statement
Simply Liquidity
Simply Liquidity is a series of photographs intended to be interpreted by viewers as if they are looking into another world or universe. Photographing a variety of liquids with glass objects places the viewer into a mysterious, magical, spiritual, sense of confusion. Bubbles and circular shapes evoke imagery of galaxies that grab the audience’s attention and challenge their own perspective on environments that vary from the abstract to dream-like worlds.
Keishla Manzano
Keishla Manzano was born and raised on the beautiful and colorful island of Puerto Rico. They lived in the small town of Jayuya situated in the middle of the island until the age of 15, where after that they moved to the city of Buffalo and has lived there since then. Growing up in the town of Jayuya surrounded by mountain views contributed to a fascination with colors and the use of it in their photography. Manzano expects to receive their BFA in Photography from Villa Maria College of Buffalo in May of 2022.
Artist Statement
<3 ≠ sci
This photographic exhibition, <3 ≠ sci is a body that revolves around portraits of young women. A fascination for colors and a love for Korean pop music were the inspiration for my photographic exhibition. The Korean girl group Twice recently released an album titled “O+T=<3”. Their album name and concept focus on the theme of love, and how love isn’t a science. In their title track, Scientist, they have a line that goes “Love ain’t a science, don’t need no license”, and after playing around a little bit with the words I titled my exhibition “<3 ≠ sci”. Using a heart symbol to demonstrate the love, using the shortened version of science and adding the ≠ symbol in between to link together how love isn’t a science.
Other Student Submissions
To view each student’s work, navigate through the carousel or click the image to view it on full screen.
