Call for Work

The Icon Industry:
The Visual Economy of Human Rights

Deadline for Submissions:  October 16, 2013
Opening: November 4, 2013

The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University is seeking works of art—in all visual mediums—for a fall exhibit: The Icon Industry: The Visual Economy of Human Rights. The call for work is open to all graduate and undergraduate students.

The term “visual economy” in art is commonly defined as a minimalist approach. But, what happens when this search for simplicity becomes a standard for representation of human rights? Often one iconic image comes to define events, groups or issues, boiling down the complexity into a singular representation that we grab onto as the “right” image. For example, how has the 1984 National Geographic cover image photographed by Steve McCurry of then-refugee Sharbat Gula, known as “the Afghan girl” come to represent—even today in Western culture—a population of Afghan women? It is arguably one of the iconic images of the 20^th century, forever referential.

This exhibit asks artists to explore, critique, and/or celebrate the notion of the iconic image in human rights issues as seen in our news media. Artists are encouraged to approach the work through a sense of awareness, examining the role of the image, creation of icons, the role of the image subject as a human rights agent and as a symbol, the use of simplicity in visual communication and/or our image obsession. Repurposing iconic and other images depicting human rights subjects/issues is allowed and encouraged in the debate, but respect must be given to the subject of the image. Further, artists are asked to consider how their work contributes to the continued dialog overall. This exhibit aims to call awareness, and in doing so create a space for reflection on our current state of visual rhetoric, but also look forward to a more engaged public in the ethics of representation.

Submissions and questions should be emailed to:
caitlin.kelly@duke.edu
Caitlin Margaret Kelly
2013-2014 Kenan Graduate Arts Fellow

• Watch students perform monologues based on life stories of the Bhutanese and Iraqi interviewed.
• Read student essays based on field research and community engagement.

Check out the new hub for student engagement journals for easy access to current and past journals kept by students in various KIE programs, and stay tuned for incoming updates from our far-flung correspondents!

Together with a faculty mentor, the two undergraduates formulated projects that incorporate research and personal reflection. Cece is a Korean adoptee exploring the culture of adoption, both through interviewing other adoptees in the U.S. and through traveling to Korea to understand how the adoption process is viewed from the other side. Christine will be in Greenland, exploring the ways in which changing environmental and economic climates are affecting the lives of indigenous Inuit communities.

The fellowship will allow freedom to pursue the student’s interests and deepen his/her own work in addition to broadening KIE’s relationship with the visual arts.  The chosen fellow will receive a $5,000 yearly stipend and access to additional resources. For further information and application instructions, visit the Graduate Awards page.

All applications must be received by 5pm on June 30th, 2013. 

Senior Fellow Ebrahim Moosa recently posted to the University of Notre Dame’s Contending Modernities blog on the works of  Shah Waliyullah of Delhi (d. 1762), an Indian scholar on Islamic law, spirituality, and the Qur’an. Moosa discusses Waliyullah’s analysis of prophetic visions as a blending of the senses similar to modern synesthesia.

The winning Duke student is Joy Liu, a Trinity junior majoring in public policy and biology (pictured at right). Her essay “Ambition” discusses a pivotal trip to Africa, in which a friendship with a local youth transformed her motivations. The Carolina student chosen, Elizabeth Henderson, is a senior majoring in journalism and mass communication. In “On Open-Mindedness,” she discusses the ways in which her liberal arts education has taken her out of her comfort zone and instilled in her an intellectual curiosity.