Every spring, George Washington University’s graduating art students bask in the sunlight of the NEXT Festival, a celebration hosted by the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, part of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. The annual Extravaganza, a party that attracts a huge crowd, was held Thursday night in the Flagg Building.
This year’s festival highlights the work of more than 170 students. At the Extravaganza, guests could stroll through the Flagg Building to enjoy the work of students across many disciplines. Lauren Onkey, director of the Corcoran School, has said the Extravaganza is one of her favorite nights of the year.
“More than 1,100 people visited the Corcoran Flagg Building for the Extravaganza to experience our students’ work,” Onkey said. “Many visitors stopped me to share their enthusiastic praise for all the exhibitions and performances. I’m so proud of our students for their commitment to their work, and grateful to all our faculty and staff who helped them achieve excellence.”
Aashish Kiphayet and his teacher, Susan Sterner, at the Extravaganza. (Greg Varner/GW Today)
One of the students displaying his work this year is Aashish Kiphayet, an M.A. candidate in New Media Photojournalism. His project, “Brown Eyes Dream,” focuses on a pair of Bangladeshi immigrants, Shahab Uddin and Sheikh Nudhar, who now live in the D.C. area. Like many immigrants from Bangladesh and elsewhere, they came to America in search of educational and employment opportunities unavailable in their native country, where unemployment is at a crisis level.
Though Kiphayet had known both Uddin and Nudhar in Bangladesh, the pair met in the United States and were married in February, with Kiphayet photographing their wedding and other moments.
One of Kiphayet’s teachers, Susan Sterner, an associate professor and director of the graduate-level New Media Photojournalism program, was on hand to celebrate his work. Sterner praised the subtlety and depth of Kiphayet’s images.
“What’s really lovely in this work is that Aashish found quiet moments in the life of a young couple that’s really a very hard life,” Sterner said. “He found these lovely, quiet, emotional moments that have a sense of reflection as well as a sense of connection to Bangladesh. Even though it’s a story about a couple, each one of them has individual moments in several images. It’s really lovely how Aashish watches for that nuance. And his quality of light in each of the images is stunning.”
Discussing an image captured at the couple’s wedding, Sterner said she admired how Kiphayet had captured small gestures showing two worlds in one, where the groom is being congratulated and the bride is on the phone with family members who couldn’t attend in person.
Fred Noubieptie, left, and Matias Liu Schmid were awed by the talent. (Greg Varner/GW Today)
GW students from other schools were also at the party. Two senior computer science majors, Fred Noubieptie and Matias Liu Schmid, enjoyed seeing the work of so many talented students on exhibit.
“It blows your mind,” Noubieptie said. “I didn’t come with any expectations, but if I had expectations, this would definitely blow them up.”
“This is my first time at this sort of festival,” said Liu Schmid, “and honestly, it’s impressive. Students around my age did this? It's kind of crazy how talented all of them are. And I really enjoy how it's all very interactive—how, with a lot of the art, you can just go ahead and touch it and explore it, to get a real sense of connection to the creation that all these students have made. You can really feel and tell their hard work.”
Students from other universities attended the party, as well. John Paul, who recently earned a master’s degree in international arbitration and business law at American University, attended in support of his friend Gabriela Passos, an M.A. candidate in New Media Photojournalism. He and Passos became friends when she was a Peace Corps volunteer in his native Cameroon.
John Paul attended at the invitation of Gabriela Passos, a friend exhibiting work. (Greg Varner/GW Today)
“She’s a very good friend and like a sister to me,” Paul said. He was greatly impressed by her multimedia installation exploring the housing crisis and related issues, and enjoyed seeing the work of other students, as well. “I was looking around to see all the amazing talents,” he added.
Other faculty and staff members were also present. Olivia Kohler-Maga, who oversees the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery in the Flagg Building, worked with students in the Museum Studies Program who curated the show “[Un]Framed: Indigenous Peoples and Lands in Focus” to highlight prints from the Corcoran’s collection.
John K. Hillers (1843-1925), “The Ancient Navajo” (detail), c. 1879-1881, albumen print, (sheet/page) 15" x 13". Gift of Mrs. Charles V. Riley, 1948 (P.48.1.27)
“It’s been really fun to see how their ideas have developed and how they’ve really researched these photos from a new lens,” Kohler-Maga said, “and how they decided to add back the voices of the Native peoples into this exhibit. The students went and talked to representatives from those Native peoples and those tribes and got their thoughts, which guests can hear in the gallery.”
Olivia Kohler-Maga of the Luther Brady Gallery enjoyed the Extravaganza. (Greg Varner/GW Today)
Students from Museum Studies will discuss their research at the Museum Studies: Marie C. Malaro Symposium on Thursday, May 1, at 5:30 p.m. in the Flagg Building’s Hammer Auditorium. For a full schedule of NEXT Festival events, click on this link. The NEXT Festival Exhibition at the Corcoran’s Flagg Building, located at 500 17th Street NW, is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m., and at other times to members of the GW community. There is no charge to attend, but please register in advance for events at https://corcoran.gwu.edu/next-festival.
The NEXT exhibition will remain open to the GW community during graduation weekend, May 17–18, for students' families to enjoy.
