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Portrait of Jonathan Thie/en
'POSTCARDS
FROM
LONDON
By Marjorie Hall
NEWS EDITOR
"What can you contribute or
give to the other students and to
the experience overall while
studying abroad?" That is the
question the application form for
the London Study Abroad Pro
gram poses to each student.
Jessica Robertson thought
seriously about the answer.
"Of course the first thing ev
eryone thinks is 'people like me,'
'l'm a good person to travel with,'
and those kind of things—how
they can contribute emotionally
and mentally," Robertson said.
"But the more I thought about it,
the more I wanted to be able to
really contribute something last-
ing."
That contribu
tion took the form
of a the photo show
entitled Postcards
from London. The
show contains 23
framed images,
each including
both a portrait of
one of the individu
als on the Fall "98
London trip and a
headshot, as well
as a short written
piece by the subject of the por
trait.
Postcards, Robertson's first
solo show, was a major turning
point in her college career.
Robertson, now a senior, entered
Guilford as a biology major, plan
ning on going into medicine. Dur
ing her sophomore year, she be
gan to become more interested in
photography.
"Suzie [Clark, art professor]
begged me to finish my
biology major,"
Robertson said. "But I
had found something I
really loved doing."
Unsure what she
wanted to do, Robertson
decided to impose a
deadline on herself.
"During my time in Lon
don, I was going to de-
cide whether or not to continue
with biology and the medical field
or do a major change-up and come
back as an art major," Robertson
said.
While in London, Robertson
did an internship with a photo
journalist, working for Reuters'
international news service and
the Daily Mail, a London news
paper. She realized that she had
m "
A JtSL
The artist herself.
favorite spots in London; one was
photographed running naked
down a London street early one
Sunday morning.
"It is important for portrai
ture to be collaborative,"
Robertson said. "These portraits
were not just by me, but are a cre
ation of the individuals in the
group. The images represent
each student's individuality."
Lauren Fortuna, a member
The Guilfordian
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JESSICA ROBERTSON
no choice; she
needed to go into
photography.
She began to
work on Postcards.
She talked with
each person about
what they wanted
his or her portrait
to be and worked
with them on the
idea. Some people
were photographed
at their intern
ships, some in their
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
of the fall '9B London group and
Robertson's flat-mate, feels the
portraits capture the group.
"Jessica's such an accepting per
son that anyone can feel comfort
able with her," Fortuna said.
"That's how she gets such genu
ine shots."
"The level of professionalism
in this show, in addition to won
derful creative insight, is just in
credible," said Clark.
Robertson worked on the
portraits for an entire semester
after she re-
"She realized that she
had no choice; she
needed to go into
photography."
turned from
London, dedi
cating her en
tire spring
break to finish
the show,
learning how
to use the
school's digital
lab, which was donated by the
Mimms three years ago.
She did not do the project as
an independent study and re
ceived no credit.
"It is very rare for a student
to take on an independent project
of this magnitude," said Clark.
"It required her to learn a whole
new set of skills, since she did it
digitally, and she obviously mas
tered them."
The show finally went up in
Boren lounge last December.
February 18, 2000
This month the show was moved
to the Walnut room, where it is
still hanging.
Robertson initially planned
to collect the portraits in a book.
"I wanted it to all be together so
we could look back on it in 30
years and be able to remember
our experience," said Robertson.
She was not able to make the
book, but she does hope that the
show can have a permanent place
at Guilford.
"It's portraits of students, by
students,"
cided to go into portraiture for
professional publications, either
editorial or advertising, is now
working on her thesis, a series on
the women in her life.
"It was hard to make the
transition to my thesis after
working on this show for a year
and a half," Robertson said.
"This show is the project I
feel most passionate about. We
were such a close-knit group."
The show will be in the Wal
nut room indefinitely.
JESSICA ROBERTSON
Robertson
said. "I don't
see how any
thing else can
portray
Guilford so
completely."
Robertson,
who has de-