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CREATIVE/VISUAL ESSAYS


EXHIBIT: Melancholy

By Candice Chow, 1st year MIT

This semester I am taking MIT1070 taught by Professor Bello. When prompted with a visual essay project, I wanted to convey the sharp discrepancies between the two states of mind: blissfulness and melancholy. The uninteresting setting of a public park and public transit dissociates the character from the setting and connects the images to the character’s emotions.


EXHIBIT: Untitled Visual Essay

By George Gialelis, 1st year MIT

I made the visual essay on February 7, 2021 for an assignment in my MIT 1070 class. We were told to take 10 pictures and organize them in a way so that the viewer can comprehend what is going on. While making the visual essay we were given specific criteria to include which was using different camera angles and the subcomponents of space. The inspiration to make mine about a student athlete who is struggling with school work and uses her passion for basketball as an escape came from the idea that many university students, like myself, find it difficult to make time for the things they love.


EXHIBIT: A Day in the Life of Kelly

By Sarah Houle, 1st year MIT

This project was made for my MIT 1070 class. It is a visual essay displaying the everyday life of one of my friends who also attends Western University. With Covid-19 it is difficult to make ideas come to life, by using “A day in the Life” it allows people to relate to everything going on while still staying safe.


EXHIBIT: Dinner for Two

By Sierra Jones, 1st year MIT

Dinner for Two is a Visual Essay I created for my MIT 1070 class. I wanted to explore the concept of mourning and dealing with loss. The story follows a woman remembering her lost lover and setting up one last dinner before letting them go. The ghost of her lover comes to her but not as the person they were but a hollow shell of a human spirit. In the end, the woman realizes that the person she loved was gone forever, but letting go is never easy.


EXHIBIT: Accepted and Expected: An Exploration of North American News Reporting of Sexualized Violence

By Julia Martins and Brandon Roach, 3rd year MPI

This interactive creation project asks participants to analyze several news article clippings which report on sexualized violence in North America. We hope that this project can offer people the opportunity become conscious of how they may uphold rape culture through the use of language.


EXHIBIT: Wash Day

By Stephany Obianaewu, 1st year MIT

This submission was done as an assignment for my MIT 1070 class. The idea of selecting my topic for my visual essay came from a conversation I had with my mom earlier this week surrounding the term “wash day” and its history within the black community. Now hearing this you may ask yourself what is “wash day” and what does it have to do with the black community? Well for those not apart of the black community “wash day” doesn’t happen to be just a day where one washes their hair, but it happens to be a ritual in which every black girl experiences. You see growing up black, we are raised and taught to always keep our hair maintained because it inadvertently was a representation of our mothers. Therefore, once a week our mothers would dedicate a whole day to washing and styling our hair, now you must be thinking that this sounds like a stretch because washing and styling hair couldn’t simply take up a whole day. Well, it couldn’t be further from the truth, as every black girl knows it a process that often takes from morning to night. You see for those of us who grew up with unruly curls, we would often dread the day due to the longevity of the progress as well as all emotions that came with it. For hours and hours, we were subjected to sit and endure through continuous washing, detangling, sectioning, and braiding hair in order to achieve maintained hair. This shared experience is symbolic as it represents black culture as well the history attached to “wash day”. I choose to photograph my little sister Isabella as she went throughout the process of “wash day” to show the extent in which black girls have to endure to maintain their hair. Often times black hair is not shown the love and appreciation it needs and deserves. Therefore, I felt it fitting with it being Black History Month to dedicate my visual essay to showcase the beauty which is black hair. Hopefully my visual essay will help you understand “wash day” as well as understand its significance to our culture and history.


EXHIBIT: Music Visually: Songs as Images

By Paige Quinn, 1st year MIT

My submission is apart of a visual essay assignment created for the MIT 1070 course. I made it early February 2020 while visiting my home, just outside of Toronto. Music plays a huge role in my life and acts as an outlet for my emotions. I wanted to create a way to show this visually. Therefore, I took pictures in which captured the same emotions and feelings that some of my favourite songs do as well.


EXHIBIT: Visual Essay of Ninth Century England

By Arya Vatan-Abadi, 4th year MIT

This project was created in early February for the MIT 1070 Media Production Foundations course. The subject I chose for this visual essay is how video games can transport us to different realities. I chose this subject because I am an amateur game designer and developer so I see games differently than most people and I wanted to highlight the work done by developers. The game I have chosen is “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla”, this game takes place in ninth century England and gives players a very accurate 3D recreation of almost the entire country. Most people don’t have a clear idea of how England looked in the ninth century so for some this could be the first time being exposed to the architecture and conditions of that time period. I tried to capture the beauty of the world and the amazing amount of detail put in by the developers in each and every shot I took.


EXHIBIT: Untitled Visual Essay

By Haochen Xu, 1st year MIT

This is a group of photos taken in the week before Chinese New Year, the most important festival in China. I drove from the market in our county town to the surrounding countryside. All the people in the photos are working hard to have a happy New Year, and I hope this can perfectly capture the down-to-earth look of Chinese rural people. Because I was born in a small, poor city in northern China, it also allows me to take pictures of scenes that students in big cities can hardly see, so I chose this subject.