This spring, UC Santa Barbara’s Humanities and Fine Arts Division hosted an annual contest to highlight creative student voices across the campus. The following are the winning submissions in the Photography and Visual arts categories.
Photography
1ST PLACE WINNER
Who Art in Heaven
BY Carmen Araujo
Carmen Araujo is a Ph.D. candidate in Hispanic Literature in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
❝ The inspiration for this picture comes from the influence of religion on women's perceptions and desires since childhood. I want to project and challenge the artificiality of religion as an imposed ideology. ❞
2ND PLACE WINNER
Dreaming
BY Erik Beahrs
Erik Beahrs is a first-year pre-Biology student. Beahrs is excited to do more research on scuba diving for his lab work.
❝ I had just seen some gorgeous pictures of still lakes where all the trees and surroundings were perfectly reflected on the water, and I wanted to do the inverse of that in our local tide pools where it was relatively simple to get a reflection on the top of the water. For this crab specifically, when I ran across it, it flipped onto its back. I knew it was the perfect opportunity to get a shot of the little guy ‘looking’ up at a slightly hazy version of himself, similar to a thought bubble or dream. ❞
3rD PLACE WINNER
2/1 Waves
BY LeeAnn Smith
LeeAnn Smith is a first-year Dance major pursuing a second major in Film and Media Studies.
❝ I see this photo as a look into the surfer’s life. ❞
Visual Art
1ST PLACE WINNER
Days of Living Childhood
BY Amanda Harris
Amanda Harris is a second-year Art major pursuing an Applied Psychology minor in the College of Creative Studies. Harris aspires to a career in art therapy after graduation.
❝ The Days of Living Childhood was an opportunity to relive old memories I miss in particular that I can otherwise not recreate in the real world. Taking place in an old school house that is long gone as a tragic result of the Camp Fire in 2018, this photo is one of the last few memories I have of spending the summer with my cousins at the annual festival known as The Days of Living History. ❞
2ND PLACE WINNER
Round 'Em Up
BY Karizma Garcia
Karizma Garcia is a fourth-year Theatre student currently studying abroad in Cork, Ireland. She plans to intern at the Getty Museum this summer after graduation.
❝ The style I drew from this piece came from a geology class that I took about four years ago in community college, where I learned about topography. I drew inspiration from the lines used to chart mountain heights, in which the color in each layer gradually changes to a deeper or lighter shade. ❞
3rD PLACE WINNER
August in Tuscany
BY Josie Hurwitz
Josie Hurwitz is a third-year Sociology major pursuing a Poverty, Inequality and Social Justice minor and a Professional Writing minor. She is passionate about prison reform, and she aims to build a career in the juvenile justice field after graduation.
❝ After visiting the Tuscan countryside over the summer with my family, I was astounded by its beauty and wanted to capture its unique feeling of stillness and serenity in my painting. ❞