Photography display illustrate solutions to global problems

A collaboration between UNC Global, UNC Study Abroad and the Center for Global Initiatives is putting an artistic twist on the campuswide academic theme “Water in Our World.”

Winning photography by UNC students, faculty, staff and alumni from the 13th Annual Carolina Global Photography Competition is on display at the FedEx Global Education Center until March 8.

Participants submitted photos illustrating potential solutions to global challenges as well as common strands among cultures when the competition was taking place last semester.

But Laura Griest, UNC Global’s manager of global events and exhibitions, said special consideration was given to photos that fit the “Water in Our World” theme.

“We want to showcase what UNC students, faculty, staff and alumni are doing around the world and don’t want to limit it only to water,” Griest said.

Junior Zoe Wolszon submitted “Morning Bath,” a photo of elephants being bathed at the Kodanad Elephant Training Center in India. Her photo was named “Water Winner,” a title given to the image that fits the campus theme the best.

“It’s not necessarily that my photo was the most spectacular or anything, I think it was just a different perspective of how water impacts the world,” Wolszon said.

“A lot of time we forget how much water impacts the rest of the world — through ecosystems and nature and humans and animals.”

UNC alumnus Cam Carrithers won first place in the overall competition for his photo “Garifuna Culture in Belize.”

Carrithers captured the winning image while he was in Belize working on a photo story about the Garifuna, a people of mixed West African and Caribbean-Indian descent that has a long history of migrating from various countries.

Carrithers said he thinks different viewers will have different interpretations of his photo.

“It makes people of all different cultures think about where they came from and realize we’re not much different from one another,” Carrithers said.

“At some point, most cultures have gotten on some sort of ship and gone to another place.”

Griest said she hopes the exhibit will challenge visitors to think differently about unknown cultures.

“I hope it will encourage all of our viewers to want to learn more, to want to travel, to want to meet other people from different cultures, to want to learn a new language,” she said.

“I hope it propels us to reach out and to grow in our experiences.”

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.