The Schroeder Hall Gallery, located on the second floor of Schroeder Hall, is host to a rotating series of exhibits, curated by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Past exhibits have explored various social questions or moments, including street art in Oaxaca, Black ISU circus performers, and water scarcity.
For the 2021-2022 school year, our exhibit will feature the Material Culture and Visual Ethnography of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The goal is to visually document and explore the effects of the current pandemic on our lived experiences. What are the material markers of this moment? How does social distancing change our daily interactions? What do social uprisings look like in the midst of a pandemic?
We invite submissions from students, faculty, and staff of visual representations of the current pandemic. Submissions can be physical objects, photographs, or artworks of any sort. This is a public location, so we cannot secure large, sculptural work. However, there is a single glass display cabinet that can accommodate smaller pieces (up to about 2 feet tall).
Please include a brief artist’s statement with your submission, describing the meaning or message of your work. The primary goal of this exhibit is to explore the visual anthropology and sociology of this moment. Submissions are encouraged from those who may not consider themselves artists or their visual evidence to be art.
Please submit your works to SCH 332 for physical pieces, or electronically to Trish Gudeman at pmgudem@IllinoisState.edu (please include “2021 Gallery Submission” in the email subject line). For digital submissions, please describe how you would print your work if it is selected for inclusion in the exhibit (size, glossy or matte finish, mounting, etc.).
We would like snapshots of this moment in time. Therefore, we encourage you to submit multiple images or works between now and the application deadline of April 18, 2021.
Please direct any questions to Abigail Stone at acston1@IllinoisState.edu.
