Amanda Molitor ’14
See, shoot, and send. This is the idea behind Episcopal Academy’s November art show and competition, Never Meant to Last, an exhibit composed solely of pictures taken on student cell phones. “You can take photographs instantaneously and send them half-way around the world in a matter of seconds. You have access to recording events on the spot as they occur,” raved Charles Collins, Upper School photography teacher. 87 of the 300 student submissions will be blown up and featured in the Crawford Campus Center Art Gallery from November 2nd to December 15th, while all other submissions will be displayed on televisions around the gallery. While some may consider cell phone pictures a gimmick, many see it as an extension and spread of an artistic field.
The idea for the show came from Peter Hay Halpert, class of ’96, who also joins the panel of curators. Halpert’s own belief is that “cell phone photography is, by definition, not elitist, and this exhibition is meant to function the same way.” The title of the show, derived from the Linkin Park song “Waiting for the End”, alludes to the placement of cell phone pictures in the history of photography. As the song states, “This is not the beginning, this is not the end.”
“The competition was an idea from years ago and nothing came of it,” says Susan Coote, an Episcopal parent and member of the EAPA. “When I took over the committee of the EAPA that helps with the gallery space, I thought it was a great idea because we really like students to be involved in what goes on in that space…you don’t have to be a fine artist to take an interesting cell phone photo.”
Students from grades 6 through 12 were eligible to participate, and the hundreds of submissions represent enthusiasm for such an accessible art form. But some students encountered speed bumps in their participation. “Only one of my five pictures successfully uploaded,” says Julianne Dones ’14. However, such hurdles will become easier to overcome with practice, as Coote hopes to continue to display photo-related exhibits in the gallery. “Photography is a language everyone speaks,” proclaims the show’s website, “and the cell phone camera is making us all fluent.”