Salt Lake Community College is showcasing the artwork of local sixth graders from Whittier Elementary School and Glendale Middle School in the George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Art Gallery at the South City Campus.
The Beloved Community Photography Project, which debuted in the gallery Feb. 13, called on schoolchildren to take photographs that would serve as a representation of the connection they feel to their own communities. SLCC faculty members provided the children with both the equipment used to take the photographs and the instruction they required to operate the equipment.
The photography project, inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., is part of a nationwide program that involves elementary, junior high and high school students. The purpose behind the exhibit is to showcase the connection between students and their communities, while paying homage to King’s vision of inclusiveness and community-driven ideals.
The King Center, the world’s largest storehouse for resources and source material pertaining to King and the Civil Rights Movement, describes the Beloved Community as being a “global vision in which all people can share in the wealth of the Earth.”
Additionally, the vision of Beloved Community portrays a world devoid of poverty, hunger and homelessness, because “international standards of human decency will not allow it.” The photographs currently on display at SLCC keep with this theme.
Potential visitors to the gallery can expect to see works such as the piece submitted by a student, Abraham G. from Glendale Middle School, entitled “Life In The City.” The photograph appears to have been taken near the Natural History Museum of Utah and captures the skyline at sunset.
The caption reads, “My vision of a beloved community is peace and life and this is how life works in the state of Utah and I learned that peace is not that hard to find and that the pictures for me, they are relaxing.”
The Beloved Community Photography Project will remain in the Eccles Art Gallery through March 15.
