Newswise — When artist Dale Newkirk attended Mardi Gras in New Orleans last year, he was struck by the number of people using cell phone cameras to capture their environment.
It gave Newkirk, curator for Southeastern Louisiana University’s Contemporary Art Clinic, an idea: Why not display images people take on cell phones in the art gallery.
Through notices in photography publications, news tips, social media sites and word of mouth, Newkirk solicited submissions from artists, photographers and the general public. Over the summer, he collected more than 400 images from over 250 people throughout the nation, as well as England, Canada and Amsterdam.
Most of those images are now on display in the National Cell Phone Photography Exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery, an event Newkirk thinks is probably the largest of its kind ever held. The exhibit runs through Sept. 25.
“Today, it seems like everyone has a cell phone and they’re using the built in cameras to capture images like never before,” said Newkirk, an associate professor of visual arts at Southeatern. “The new phones today are amazing and can capture some great images.
“It’s interesting to see what people choose to shoot,” he added. “The most popular images we received were people’s cats and sunsets.”
The better shots came from photographers and artists, a natural outcome he explained since they tend to have an eye for image and content.
In the gallery, Newkirk chose to arrange the photos in a random pattern and deliberately kept the display very minimalistic. “I wanted it to be in a very casual, informal setting,” he said.
Available online at www.selu.edu/news_media/news_releases
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