Mason Galemore
Contributing Writer
mgalemore@murraystate.edu
With photos from her study abroad trips to Ireland and the Philippines spanning back to 2006, Professor of Sociology Diane Nititham showcased her project “Emergent SocialScapes.” The project is on display at the Murray Art Guild.
Nititham’s work was chosen because she was able to practice sociology and ethnography effectively using photography, said Murray Art Guild Director Debi Henry Danielson.
“Nititham used visual data to support her research,” Danielson said. “With a visual aspect, one can put a human characteristic to numbers and an emotional characteristic to research. It is a great combination.”
Ireland and other countries in Europe have experienced an increase in immigration, Nititham said. As a result, these countries form new hybrid cultures, like the Filipino communities in Ireland.
“Immigration has started a new conversation,” Nititham said. “It has asked the question of what it means to be Irish—not just in the physical landscape but in the social landscape.”
Some of the photos in the exhibition portray small moments from everyday life. The best way to make connections between cultures is to find the mundane moments because those moments have the most connection, she said.
Many of the immigrants have to travel from country to country before making it to Ireland, she said. This is because they don’t have enough money or resources to travel directly to Europe or the United States. Anti-immigration notions that blame immigrants for specific issues such as economic instability, she said, have been around since the creation of modern borders.
“People have been migrating for a milennia,” Nititham said. “The way we think of borders and who gets to belong and who doesn’t get to belong is an active choice we make.”
The Philippines experienced exploitation by foreign countries such as the United States and Spain throughout history. It was a colony of Spain from 1565 to 1898. Following the Spanish-American War, the U.S. subjected Filipinos to imprisonment, torture and death during the Filipino Insurrection.
The past mistreatment of Filipinos has influenced this desire of many Filipinos to seek a better life, Nititham said. Their history does not disprove the fact that they are capable and hardworking, she said.
The more diverse the world becomes, Nititham said, the more we as citizens are able to make connections. She said having a collective diversity of opportunities for everyone can be beneficial.
“I hope that my exhibition and future research have offered those opportunities for those who have been actively put in the shadows and excluded,” Nititham said. “I hope that through these photos I am bringing their voices forward. These stories are vital to our own humanity.”
The exhibit will be up until Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Murray Art Guild on 500 N. 4th Street.
For more information, visit murrayartguild.org.