Bea Gerber Capstone

For my capstone, Becca and I created WANDERING EYES, an interactive photography exhibition/fundraiser celebrating the work of refugee photographers who have gone through a ReFocus photography and media workshop in Lesvos, Greece during their wait for asylum. After traveling to Greece last summer as teaching artists for the workshops, Becca and I knew we needed more people to get a taste of the hands of experience we were lucky enough to have in order to give people a personal connection to a pressing crisis that often feels distant. For our exhibition, I wrote and designed large informational posters that lined the walls and gave viewers a look inside the refugee crisis and the situation in Lesvos, smaller directional signs to guide viewers through the experience, 8 detailed artists cards to connect viewers to the artists and their work, and postcards for sale and business cards distributed at the event. In addition, I edited together interviews of the teaching artists and artists found on the artist cards and put them into a website for a projection room at the end of the exhibition. I also managed our email and newsletter, handled poster distribution, and made connections with local businesses that supported our project and printed our photos and cards for a fraction of their original costs. I took on a lot for this project and lost a lot of sleep, but I learned so much about graphic design, networking, marketing, and my personal work ethic and I am more proud of this exhibit than anything I have ever done before. Over 100 people attended, and the feedback we received made it clear that we gave our community a better understanding of the conditions refugees face and the power of art amidst crisis, and raised hundreds of dollars for the workshops and helped show Americans what refugees are capable of.