Student Artist challenges the Men and Women behind Media

When you pick up a daily paper or tune in to the nightly news, you may spend little to no time wondering which talent, companies, and executives are behind each story or show. But Callie Humphrey, a senior AEMM major and assistant exhibition coordinator for the Hokin Gallery, was forward-thinking enough to question the men and women behind the media, wondering what would happen if artists ran the media instead, and curated a show that attempts to answer this question for the Columbia community.

“The idea for If Artists Ran the Media stemmed from my curiosity about the lack of interest and concern that own my generation seemed to have regarding politics, our media, and our very corporate-culture-minded society ... ”

“The idea for If Artists Ran the Media stemmed from my curiosity about the lack of interest and concern that own my generation seemed to have regarding politics, our media, and our very corporate-culture-minded society,” Humphrey said. “I wanted to present a challenge to artists, students, and our community to question and dissect the level of truths present in our mass media, and thought that a visual art exhibition would be an approachable medium for which the Columbia and Chicago communities could explore this issue.”

Humphrey submitted her proposal in April to the Department of Exhibition and Performance Spaces or D.E.P.S., Curatorial Review Board, hoping to get to claim one of two student-curated shows for the next school year.  On her birthday in June, the board notified her of her acceptance and it was “a ‘happy birthday’ indeed!” she said.  She spent the summer stewing over design details and preparing for the slew of deadlines that hit as soon as September rolled around.

“Picking out paint, fonts, and designing the gallery's atmosphere was really exciting and before I knew it, the show was up and open,” Humphrey said. “It was such a fantastic learning experience for me, and I am so thankful to have gotten such an incredible opportunity to do something like this in college.”

Besides being active in the visual arts at Columbia, Humphrey’s leadership translated into humanitarian efforts when she got involved with the student organization Reach Out in spring 2008.  She went on a whim with spring break group that headed to New Orleans, and will be doing the same this spring.

On her trip to New Orleans, Callie “became a witness to a disaster stricken area that has essentially been ignored since the big media hype left the ravaged city of New Orleans a few years ago,” she said. “I guess you could say this was a prime example of an illegitimately-reported on national disaster that contributed to my fears that If Artists Ran the Media addressed; issues are only reported on that are ‘popular’ or that can gain something, and since the lingering situation in New Orleans was no longer serving any corporate interest, it was dismissed.”

If Artists Ran the Media runs until February 20, 2009 in the C33 Gallery.

Morgan Phelps
Magazine Journalism