Ronit Ilan photograph "State of Mind"

Ronit Ilan will be installing her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, a collection titled, State of Mind. Her work is an exploration of part of her identity as an Israeli.

Ronit Ilan photograph "State of Mind"

Exploring a range of subjects and themes, graduate and undergraduate photography students will be exhibiting their work in the Visual Arts Building from May 25 – June 23.

In conjunction with completing her Master of Fine Arts degree, Ronit Ilan will be installing her collection titled State of Mind. A reception for the show is scheduled for Saturday, June 2, at 6:30 p.m.

Ilan creates photographs and videos informed by her exploration of her identity as an Israeli. She studies “the massive presence of the army, the borders and boundaries, and the everyday street life of coexistence.”  

“My photographs record the routines of life while acknowledging a sense of tension,” Ilan said.

Lauren Marek, who is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in art and performance this semester, will  show her work in a collection called Memories of the Everyday.

Lauren Marek photography

Lauren Marek, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art and performance this semester, will be showing her work called Memories of the Everyday.

Marek focuses on relationships with friends and family.  Her work blends memory and reality as she relies on image sequence to create narratives. 

“Lauren Marek’s singular vision involves the rearrangement of exposures collected from her own photographic past – an extension of the scrapbook – as she mines the tradition of the snapshot aesthetic,” said Marilyn Waligore, professor of aesthetic studies and photography at UT Dallas.

“Her rich visual description creates an image-based poetic language:  Gestures function like verbs; colors resemble adjectives; and human presence takes the role of the noun.  She invites viewers to decode these fragments of daily life rendered through her subtle act of transformation using the agent of light.”

A number of other undergraduate students will also present their work in another exhibit, Photoworks 2012.

CentralTrak Exhibit

May 26 – June 30

 At 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 26, CentralTrak visiting artist Larissa Aharoni will present a silkscreened artist book, which she created during her stay. The book examines the function of capital punishment in society throughout time.

The exhibition, curated by Waligore, features the work of Daniel Hulsey, Holly Lynn, Katie Crowell, Brian Miller, Amil Daniels, Jack Perales, Chris Elsea, John Quidilla, Alex Chi, Chris Hendren and Niki Wang.

Students in this show explore a wide range of subjects, including human relationships, the media’s representation of women and visual interpretations of childhood memories, among others.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information, email utdarts@utdallas.edu or call (972) UTD-ARTS.