ALTON/GODFREY - Lewis and Clark Community College students will premiere their photography at an exhibit titled “MILF: Man I Love Film.”
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Running through the month of May at Jacoby Arts Center in Alton, the “MILF” exhibit will feature the photography of ten students and Professor Sage Mend. Jacoby Arts Center will host an exhibit opening from 2–4 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, 2024. Community members are invited to check out the exhibit, meet with students and learn more about the art of film photography.
“It’s been really personally sentimental and really impactful for me as a professor to watch the students grow and have some students fall in love with it that have never worked with the medium before,” Mend said. “Even if the students aren’t forever attached to this medium, I’m really grateful that they’re able to understand what certain mediums bring to the table when they’re trying to express who they are. That’s been really cool.”
Throughout the semester, Mend’s class has talked about the role of film photography in the digital age and how film can express different ideas. She said many people believe film is dying, but her students’ interest in the medium show that it is still very much alive. The students chose to explore different “subcultures” in their photography, from new age emo to the furry fandom and human and animal struggles.
“It’s kind of representing this new age of film photography,” Mend explained. “Film is really important because it’s going against the grain of what’s popular. It’s going against the grain of digital photography, but also society by extension…I think film lends itself to those kinds of subcultural genres, because it is a subcultural medium.”
Half of Mend’s students had “dabbled” in film photography, but many of them had no experience with the medium before Mend’s class. She said it has been “really fulfilling and heartwarming” to watch her students’ art develop. The students reached out to Jacoby Arts Center about hosting an exhibit because they were so eager to share what they had learned.
Jacoby Arts Center agreed to host the show as both a way to support the students and to promote their own darkroom and classes. Mend pointed out that many of her students will be graduating at the end of this month, but they’ll still have access to a darkroom through Jacoby so they can continue their film photography.
“I think the students were a little bit timid at first, so it’s been really exciting just to push them to go for it,” Mend added. “It’s been a good way to connect to the community…I’m very proud of my students because they’re all very different and they’ve all found a way to express themselves differently through the medium, so that’s really cool.”
“MILF: Man I Love Film” opens on May 4, 2024, and runs through June 1, 2024, at Jacoby Arts Center. Mend and her students will be on hand to talk about their experience during the show’s opening from 2–4 p.m. on Saturday, May 4. Their prints will be available for purchase throughout the month.
For more information about the exhibit, visit the official webpage at JacobyArtsCenter.org.
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