International Eye photo contest captures student perspectives abroad
Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, in collaboration with the Office of International Programs, celebrated the winners of the 13th annual International Eye Photo Contest on Thursday, Mar. 23, 2023. This year, 21 photos were selected from over 250 total submissions.
The contest was open to all undergraduates who participated in an international experience (study, work, service or research) in the past year and allowed them to submit photos in the categories of Abstraction, Architecture/Cityscape, Landscape/Nature, People, PIIRS Global Seminar, Connection and Reflection, and Tigers Abroad. Though a judging process, top photographs were chosen for Best in Show and Best in Category awards and were then showcased in the on-campus gallery event. Katherine Bussard, the Peter C. Bunnell Curator of Photography at the Princeton University Art Museum, judged the main categories.
The photos provide a snapshot of what students were experiencing at that moment in time and lend a contemporary perspective on a culture outside of the United States. Entries represent a wide range of international activities including semester and summer study abroad, PIIRS Global Seminars, the Novogratz Bridge Year Program, Engineers Without Borders, the International Internship Program, and more. Submissions were taken in over 30 countries and came from students in all seven residential colleges and 28 different concentrations.
View an online gallery of winning photos.
Signed, Sealed, Divided by Cecilia Quirk ’24 was awarded 1st place in the PIIRS Global Seminar Category. "Guarded checkpoints dot the concrete wall that bisects Nicosia, the world’s last divided capital, enforcing the physical and symbolic division; however, artistic acts of resistance in English as well as Greek have been painted with even greater frequency across the structure, arguing linguistically, artistically, and urgently for a peaceful coexistence," she wrote of her entry. Photo by Adena Stevens
"When I was in Uganda for my senior thesis research, I had the opportunity to stay with other researchers in the research program guest house, where we cooked together and enjoyed communal meals made from locally grown crops every day," wrote Katie Kopp '23 about her 1st place entry in the Connection and Reflection category. "Grace, the house mother, taught us how to prepare Ugandan foods such as chapati, and we shared our own recipes with the group... When I had to leave Uganda, Grace wanted to be sure that I would be able to make chapati on my own back in the U.S., so on my last night, I cooked for Grace and the other researchers, and we all enjoyed my last night there together. I've made chapati for my family in the U.S. since, but it has never tasted quite as good as it did that night." Photo by Adena Stevens