Indian man in desert

Global Exposures

by UNC students, faculty, and staff
(filed under: visual arts)

Every year, hundreds of Carolina students, professors, and staff head abroad to study, conduct research, and run programs. Each November, UNC’s Center for Global Initiatives asks travelers to enter a photo competition. Here are some entries and winners from 2007. For more information see http://gi.unc.edu/.

Nathaniel Nihart, international studies and African studies

shrine in dolomites

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“I was climbing in the Dolomites when I came upon this shrine, one of the many Christian symbols that were so prevalent in the area. It also served as a memorial for climbers who had died in the area or who were originally from the area.”

Jose Corbella, journalism

demonstration in chile

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“More than 70,000 people gathered in front of the Chilean military academy on September 11, 2006. Some went to say goodbye and some others to celebrate the death of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. I never understood the love (and for some others, hate) that Chileans felt towards Pinochet until that night. The atmosphere was sad and joyful at the same time — one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever felt.”

Ben Aiken, environmental studies

kayaker in india

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“Three weeks of exploratory kayaking in the Himalaya mountains of Sikkim, India provided great adventure and an interaction with people who likely had never seen a kayak. This photograph was taken from a wobbly bridge upstream.”

Amanda Barbee, anthropology

bus riders

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“After speaking to the students at a rural school in Kenya, I was walking to an intersection to catch a matatu (vans used for public transportation). On the way, I ran into a principal that I had met a couple of weeks before, who offered me a ride in his matatu. After driving for a few minutes, we stopped at his school and picked up the other passengers: thirty children. This was my own personal experience of the running joke in Kenya that in a matatu, there’s always room for one more.”

Leah Gilbert, medicine and maternal and child health

boy in andes

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“I got this shot in the middle of a four-day hike through the remote Andes. We had reached one of the most breathtaking scenes of the hike…a full 360-degree view of snow-capped peaks and fertile valleys. I felt like I was truly in the middle of nowhere, but then four bright children came around the corner on the narrow trail snaking across the side of the mountain. One of them, seen in this photo, walked along the edge of precipitous cliff, admiring the view behind him. When I look at this picture, I’m reminded how hard it was for me to hike up these peaks, nearly 4,000 meters high, where the oxygen was thin and the air was frigid. Yet here were these four children, climbing through the Andes on their own, in sandals, not out of breath in the slightest. The Inca are an amazing and unique culture, surviving in isolation on top of the world.”

Shai Tamari, Rotary peace scholar

desert in jordan

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“The sunset over the Wadi Rum desert has to be one of my most breathtaking experiences. While traveling in southern Jordan with five other UNC students, we stayed overnight in a Bedouin camp and witnessed this marvelous scenery — a perfect ending for a perfect day.”

Julie Barrett, international studies

women in peruvian city

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“My friends and I, who had been studying in Argentina, took a trip through Peru and Bolivia at the end of our semester. We decided to get a better view of this crowded city from atop a lookout tower. Upon reaching the top, I was rather surprised to see these two women chatting happily to themselves, seemingly unaware of the tourists snapping pictures all around them. They were framed so perfectly with their city stretching out in front of them, and I found this image far more interesting than merely the landscape itself.”

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©2008 Endeavors magazine, UNC-Chapel Hill.