Atlanta Photography Exhibition 'Honor Roll 2021' features two students from Oglethorpe University

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The artworks of Oglethorpe University Class of 2021’s recent graduates Lauren Headrick-Jones and Ana Castillo Lopez were selected to be featured in the Atlanta Photography Group exhibition “Honor Roll 2021,” which spotlights works by students chosen from Georgia colleges and universities.

The exhibition was juried by a panel of three experts: Samuel Gerace, curator of photography at the Booth Western Art Museum; Rebecca Morgan, director of Arnika Dawkins Gallery; and Alyssa Coppelman, art researcher with Harper’s Magazine and the Oxford American. The 14 students featured were recommended by their faculty and sorted out from more than 35 candidates.

Headrick-Jones’ art is a meditation on the complexity of identity in marriage, by which she explores her own identity within the context of her relationship with her husband. Meanwhile, Lopez’s art stemmed from her religious experiences growing up in Mexico, where Catholicism and worshiping the Virgin Mary was a large part of her culture.

Both Headrick-Jones and Lopez crafted their artworks in their classes at Oglethorpe, but it was not until Christina Price Washington, Assistant Professor of Art, saw their creation that they finally decided to share and showcase their talent with the Atlanta community.

“Oglethorpe has been a place where I have been able to experiment and develop a practice, and I contribute that to my amazing professors,” said Headrick-Jones. “I have particularly clung to Christina; she has been my mentor through all of this. I am appreciative of the things she has taught me. It’s changed my life, my perspective of art, and who I am as an artist.”

“I think the biggest gift Oglethorpe has given me was my photography class with Christina,” Lopez said. “She really allows you to experiment and her classes aren’t rigid. She’s open to allowing you to try different things in order to find your artistic aesthetic. The fact that Oglethorpe is so small has allowed me to build an actual relationship with my professors.

”Headrick-Jones is a member of the Atlanta Photography Group and will be pursuing a master’s degree, while Lopez aims to be a professor. Lopez is currently interning for the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.

The free exhibition opened on May 20 and is available to be virtually viewed until June 20.

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