DePauw Stories

A photography exhibition that will demonstrate connections in the DePauw University community, even during the COVID-19 pandemic and its requisite social distancing, is being planned at the Richard E. Peeler Art Center.

“proximity” is set to run Aug. 15-Dec. 31 and will be viewable online here, said Maggie Leininger, Peeler's director and curator of exhibitions. Students, staff and faculty members and alumni are invited to post to Instagram digital photos that depict their “everyday experience in our pandemic life, using the tag “#proximities2020.” Those who do not use Instagram may email images to margaretleininger@depauw.edu. 

Leininger plans to print out photos that measure 2.5 inches square and display them in a main gallery exhibit that will be open to students and faculty and staff members in the fall and later displayed off campus. The exhibition will be viewable online on the Peeler Arts Center website.

Social distancing, she said in her call for participation, is dramatically affecting global economics and intimate relationships.

“Our natural tendencies of wanting to gather, assemble, congregate and in some cases even rally together demonstrates our need for solidarity, togetherness and unity,” she said. “It is through these gatherings that we share mundane and extraordinary experiences that instill empathy for each other.

“These shared experiences become building blocks to expanding our world view and provides opportunities for personal growth.”

The exhibition, she said, is intended “to demonstrate how we are connected, no matter how near or far we happen to be from each other.”

She suggests photos of:

-Domestic spaces. Show us your room, kitchen or family room. Who is in the room with you? What do you do in these spaces?

-Landscapes that evoke a passage of time. How has the landscape around you changed?

-Psychological state of being represented by a selfie or other portraiture.

-Momentous occasions or milestones celebrated in a time of social distancing. Share your graduation photos, what you might have worn to the prom or how you celebrated your birthday.

-Daily habits, rituals or other activities you have incorporated into your life since the beginning of the pandemic.

-Togetherness: What does togetherness look like to you now?

-What do you miss most?

-What do you look forward to doing the most?

-Daily observances. This could be images that evoke just a state of being.

-Where you are right now.