A new exhibit at the Muscarelle Museum of Art will examine diplomacy by photographers from across the globe and close to home.
“21st Century Diplomacy: Ballet, Ballots, and Bullets” opens Saturday at the museum on the campus of the College of William & Mary. With images hailing from places of conflict around the earth, the exhibit explores social questions of diplomacy and its intersection with art.
Photography has always been a passion and hobby for exhibit curator Kathryn H. Floyd, a visiting instructor with the school’s government department. Floyd connected with the global affairs magazine the Diplomatic Courier while working with them in Washington, D.C. and recently set out to build an educational collaboration between the two groups.
With an increased focus on international security at William & Mary, she thought the time was ripe to bring an exhibit merging her interests of diplomacy and photography to students and the Hampton Roads community.
“There was this really unique opportunity to bring some of the world-famous photographers with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working to the college,” Floyd said.
For Ana C. Rold, editor-in-chief of the Diplomatic Courier, the partnership was a natural fit between her publication and William & Mary, two entities with educational missions. In an email to WYDaily, she said both groups share a passion for connecting global issues with a local audience.
“We aim to humanize diplomacy and make it a subject the public understands and finds interest in,” Rold said of the magazine, whose name was selected to convey its commitment to sharing international perspectives with America. “This exhibit is a vital visual interpretation of that mission.”
The exhibit is more than bringing notable names in photography to the museum, Floyd said, but also the spirit of education in Williamsburg.
“William & Mary loves learning for the sake of learning, so it’s not about any one individual photographer,” she said.
About a year ago Floyd met with museum Director Aaron De Groft to discuss the project. Having worked with the International Relations club and their budding photographers, Floyd knew the student population would be interested, but it had been a while since the Muscarelle held a photography show.
From the start of the endeavor, Floyd wanted student voices — and lenses — to be involved with the finished exhibit.
“Our students have a story to tell too—they have a role in diplomacy,” she said.
Three William & Mary students’ work is featured at the museum, alongside established photographers from around the world. Floyd culled through photographs submitted through a call through the Diplomatic Courier and on campus.
The pieces selected fall into the three categories of the exhibit: ballet, ballots and bullets. Women are prominent across the exhibit but play a large role in the ballet section, which encompasses the cultural side of diplomacy. It includes snapshots from a wedding dress shop in a refugee camp, where women are striving to maintain some degree of normal life amid a civilization in turmoil.
The photographs of the exhibit will be given an added dimension through iPads incorporated into the show. An app will display a map of the world, highlighting locations where images in the exhibit were shot. Visitors will be able to click to see the photo on the screen and learn addition facts about the area.
Whether in person at the museum or virtually, the public can engage with the exhibit on social media and share their thoughts using #fotodiplomacy. A live feed of tweets using the hashtag will be on the museum iPads as well.
Rold said she believes the conversation will continue over several months, even after the exhibit closes in Williamsburg in September.
“[T]hese time-enduring themes will continue to engage those who attend the exhibit in person and those who are afar in other parts of the world,” she said.
The Muscarelle is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call 221-2700 or visit the museum website.
