Encountering New Perspectives at Dartmouth College’s First Interfaith Photovoice Exhibit

Sometimes even the simplest of images, or insights, can move us and challenge us to grow in new ways. That happened for Lily Johnson, a member of the Interfaith Living Learning Community at Dartmouth College, while participating in the first Interfaith Photovoice project with Dartmouth’s William Jewett Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Life. She was particularly affected by one of her peer’s photos, composed by Gracie Bartos. It depicts an empty Keystone beer can resting in the snow. 

Corners

Think of all those who can’t take part. And venture into the basement corner to care for them.

— Gracie

“For me, this was a reminder that I’m in a new space and I’m somewhere where it’s different for me. Part of my faith practices are not to [drink alcohol],” Johnson said at the opening of the exhibit. “So, it’s a different experience to get used to a campus where I’m seeing something that conflicts with my worldview and to just say ‘people have their own experiences, I have my own preferences and to learn to co-exist with that,’” she continued. Several of the other participants described similar experiences on the project.

Six students took part in the Interfaith Photovoice project at Dartmouth over the past few weeks, which culminated in a photo exhibit that opened Tuesday, February 20th. Students, faculty, and community members of all sorts stopped by to hear and see the stories of the participants related to their experiences of flourishing (and not) on campus as religious/spiritual individuals from a variety of backgrounds including Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, and Orthodox Christian. 

With astonishing bravery as first year college students, the photos and stories that emerged from this project touched on a variety of difficult topics and vulnerable conversations including grappling with the accessibility of the campus, where they feel at home (and not), and their struggles to live out their own faith commitments due to other demanding commitments and priorities as undergraduate students. 

It wasn’t just the participants that were moved by the photos and stories shared at the exhibit. Community members and stakeholders were also engaged with the art and interested in the experience of the participants on the project. 

The Sign

“Have they not then looked at the sky above them: how We built it and adorned it

with stars, leaving it flawless?” (Qur’an 50:6). The Islamic perspective on proving the

existence of God has been to look around us as there are numerous signs for those

who want to see them. For me personally the night sky is always a reminder of God.

“Beauty will save the world” (Dostoevsky). I find meaning and beauty in the night

sky. I think that we live in the ingratitude of the beauty around us. If we just stop

and look even a little beyond our own selfish obsessions of life, we will find beauty

too mesmerizing to comprehend. Witnessing that level of beauty is truly a spiritual

experience.

— Ahmad

Brandon Crosby, the manager of the ‘53 Commons dining hall at Dartmouth, was drawn to Ahmad Wahab’s photo “The Sign” of a starry night sky. He said, “I’m originally from New Hampshire. These skies have been above my head most of my life. And as [the caption] talks about the peacefulness and quietness of the night, it also reminds me of home and … no matter where I am, when I look up at the [same] stars I remember sitting at my dad’s porch growing up looking at the same stars. They are the same stars but from different angles. And that to me represents the diversity that we have on campus and that we might look at the same thing but there are so many angles to see the same thing from.” 

Watch this blog and our social media to learn more about this project in the coming weeks.