Winter Quarter 2020, Art 140 & ESOL students collaborative work was on display the SE Library for CultureSEast.
For five years, Delpha Thomas, ESOL writing instructor, and I have conducted a cultural exchange between our students. We have woven a writing/photo project into our curricula once a year. We have displayed these collaborations in the SE signature cultural festival on campus, CultureSEast. Student work from 2019 was included in the SE campus online literary and art journal, Cinder Cone, in 2020.
Link to a PDF of Winter 2020 assignment description.
Object Portraits
Object Portraits is a collaboration between Art and ESOL. It brings students together to share stories and photograph objects that represent culture.
We hope to capture the campus experience by engaging diverse cultures, identities, and telling the stories of students various programs at PCC. The installation features photographs and texts by photography and ESOL students. The photography students come from a range of backgrounds, but mostly from dominant American culture. This project allows them to interact with diverse communities while learning their art. Because the photographs focus on curious cultural objects rather than on people, the objects act as a gateway for participants and observers to focus on the stories being told, rather than the people telling them. This softens the othering that many immigrant and refugee students experience, which is particularly relevant at this moment. Each photograph will be accompanied by a student-generated text that is representative of the developing language skills that newcomers work with in order to share simple information about themselves. It acknowledges that developmental English is a valid means for communicating and is deserving of inclusion.
Instructor: Delpha Thomas, ESOL Writing
Instructor: Rachel Siegel, Digital Photography
Note: A sampling of the final photography student images appear below, but not all corresponding ESOL student writing is displayed below.
"My Ring" -- Written by Tan Nguyen & Photo by Kevin Nguyen. -- My special object is my wedding ring. It is made of gold. It's proof that I am a husband. My wife gave it to me and I gave my wife one too at our wedding. In my country, according to the traditional concept. When getting married, the husband and wife exchange rings and we always wear them on the ring finger of the left hand because they said that the ring finger’s blood will flow straight to the heart. I have been married for 20 years. Every time I look at it, I can feel that we are always together. I’m very happy. My ring is very important to me because I have more mature thoughts. I had chosen a wife and now I have to be responsible for my family. I’m able to share my difficulties at work in my life and build a happy family. We have taught our children to be good people for society. I will treasure my wedding ring. My ring and my wife will be companions to accompany me through my life.
"Terme" Written by Fara Eskandarifard & Photo by Kiera McAdams. -- One of the most famous handicrafts in my country, Iran, is called Terme. It is a special handwoven cloth. In the majority of cases, the basic element is wool and silk. However, the majority of them are made of wool. Weaving Terme is a sensitive, careful, and time-consuming process. The background colors used in Terme are jujube red, blue, green and blue sky. In my country, people used Terme to decorate their houses and most people use it in traditional events such as Iranian New Year and special anniversaries. There are different colors and shapes of the Terme. All shapes and colors in it have deep meaning, which represents our culture, historical beliefs, hopes, and dreams. The terme has been admired throughout history. When I was younger, my mother gave me this colorful and unique terme that I have kept since then. Three years ago my niece was born and my sister named her Terme. I love her more than anything in the world. She has blue eyes that remind me of hope and belief like Terme, and her lips are red like the background of it, too.
My Favorite Vietnamese Specialty "My Favorite Vietnamese Specialty" -- By Anh Phan & Photo by Emilio Galvez. -- There are a lot of foods, drinks and other things which are a part of Vietnamese culinary culture. One of them is sugarcane juice. Sugarcane juice is a refreshing drink made by crushing cane juice to get water. This drink is popular in Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America; it is also a part of the memory of every Vietnamese person’s childhood. When squeezing sugarcane juice, people add blueberries, oranges, or pineapple, yet most of them use lemon to add flavor to sugarcane juice so that it is easy to drink. Many people prefer to drink sugarcane juice in the hot season. Vietnam just has two seasons which are rainy season and hot season. My friends and I usually drink sugarcane juice when we were young at many cars of this cane juice sold on the sidewalk. When I came to the U.S, there wasn’t any sugarcane juice, so I asked my uncle to send me some jars of freshly dried sugarcane juice from his own company, “Vinamit’s Product”, It helped me remember the time that I used to work at Vinamit’s showroom with his staff in summer when I was 16 or 17 years old. Sugarcane juice is important to me because it is a part of my life and my childhood. I want to introduce my country’s products to friends around the world and put Vietnam on par with the international community.
"My Birthday Gift Book" -- Written by Huyen Nguyen & Photo by Cameron Tierney. -- Have you ever made an insane decision because of a book? Yes, I have done it. The book is called, “Song Nhu Ngay Mai Se Chet” written by Phi Tuyet. It means “We Live as Tomorrow is Our Last Day”. The book is highlighted with the yellow color on the hardcover. Down at the bottom I thought it was barbed wire fences at the first sight. But when I look closely, it is a line of birds, and one of them is flying in a different way. I was gifted by my best friend on my birthday in VietNam. It is meaningful to me because it defines who I am today. I love this book a lot and this is the third time I have read it. When I read the title, I thought this book would be boring, but it was not. I read a couple of pages and couldn't take my eyes off it. It has thirteen chapters. The first three chapters tell about the inspiration from life. The next four chapters are about listing things making you feel valuable and special. And those last chapters analyze the weaknesses and strengths which people should be concerned about. This book is important to me because before I read it, every day was the same, bored and exhausted. I guess that people will feel the same as me. People get lost in life, keep doing the same routines every day and wait until the end of day of sign. We wake up every morning and wonder ourselves if we do that, will we lose it? I highly recommend you to read it. The reason why I am here today in America is because of this book. It trains my mind to be more confident in thinking, and be risky to challenge myself. So I took the chance to move to live in America, where I learn a lot more things. I learn about cultures, people, food, etc. I love this book. It is the most amazing gift ever. It is like a tool that I use to take care of my garden because that garden simply is my life.
"Jebena" -- Written by Helen Ghebrekiros & Photo by Uma Habibah. -- My object is called “Jebena”. My Mom gave me this object when I came to the U.S.A. When she gave it to me, she told me to keep it in a safe place. This object is found anywhere in Eritrea, but this object is only for the Tigrinya ethnicity. In Eritrea, there are nine cultures. So this object is a little expensive to buy because they are made of clay after boiling in hot water. We use it to make coffee on charcoal which we call “farnelo”, and we also use it as an oven. Adult Eritreans drink coffee for fun. It’s a unique object compared to the machine coffee makers.
"The Angel of The Dreamers" --Written by Elliot Vu & Photo by Donald Poat. -- In my long-term memory, the ball-jointed doll, which was given to me by my best friend has been my favorite gift that I ever have received. Different from the normal dolls, this doll is called that name because it is created with a dry powder sculpting method. For the purpose, it is used for decorating a living or bedroom. According to the Japenese’s culture, a ball-jointed doll symbolizes the little girls and is the guardian angel for them. To be more precise, my doll is made of clay and is shaped based on the shape of a woman. It has some weird traits on her face and has a bald head. From a pair of big eyes to the red-thin lips, all these features make her more fascinating and unreal. Especially, she has a sexy and attractive without denial. In fact, my friend created her based on the characteristics of the animated film “Coraline”. I was given this doll from my friend at the airport. Until now, I haven’t forgotten that day - the day I left my country to come to America. I remember quite vividly what he said that early morning, he said: “Don’t give up dreaming and lose yourself because of many adversities in your future. Just always remember that bad days build better days”. Indeed, we are the dreamers; we always have fun when thinking about pop culture memes, fantasy thinkings,... Both he and I know that it would be too hard and difficult for me to adapt and to have a stable life for the first time in America. Time is so hard for dreamers, it is the ruthless truth. It can lead to the fact that I could be changed in the future. For this harsh reason, he made this doll and gave it to me to remind me not to forget who I really am. In conclusion, this doll helps me know my real identity, my dreams and trying as much as I can to keep it eternal.
"Boo Juck" -- Written by Hyeji Lee & Photo by Angela Sagues. -- My object is called "boo juck", which means amulet. When I came to America, my mother gave it to me. She worried about me studying abroad because I had never lived alone and hadn’t separated for a long time with my family. My family does not have a religion, but she was worried about me, so she wanted me to believe in the meaning of the amulet that she gave me. My mother said that the amulet would protect me and bring me good luck. Therefore, I had to carry it with me all the time. I didn’t believe in the meaning it had, but I believed my mother’s love. When I felt so bad and missed my family with strong homesickness, I saw the amulet and I thought the amulet gave me power. I don't know what it’s made of, but she got it from a temple in Korea. It looks like a small letter’s envelope, and there is a picture in the envelope, but I have never opened it. My amulet is important to me because my mother put her prayers in the amulet. I think it connects us mentally even when we are away from each other.
