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Dibner Art Showcase

Student-Led Art Project at Dibner Library.

Curators

Andrea Anghel: 

Andrea Anghel is a Senior in her last semester as a Business and Technology Management Bachelor’s student, with a concentration in Technology Management and Strategy. Andrea is a LEAD Student Assistant at Dibner Library, with a background as a seasoned summer camp counselor. Passionate and intense, she’s an artist to the core, diligently seeking learning opportunities and creative challenges to expand her skills and knowledge. With interests in writing, illustration, character design, and all mediums of studio art, as well as math and STEM subjects, Andrea attempts to cultivate the best of all these worlds in both herself and her Tandon community while integrating these perspectives into her business career.

Darwin Fermin: 

Darwin Fermin is a Senior pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Civil & Urban Engineering with a minor in Construction Management. Whenever he’s not at school studying or working as a Student Assistant at Dibner, you can find him biking around the city or capturing moments with his camera (sometimes both at the same time!). Though interested in various forms of visual art, he mainly practices photography and is always looking for ways to sharpen and expand his repertoire of skills. Darwin believes in the story telling power of visual art, and is hoping the Tandon community will use this exhibition as a way to display their skills and tell their own stories.

Theme: Hope

Challenge Statement

To cultivate artistic thought and creative expression amongst Tandon School of Engineering students and to enrich the feelings of support and closeness throughout our community here at NYU.

Why is the theme "Hope"?

Throughout the past few years, people of all ages and backgrounds have had their lives changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The shockwaves of the pandemic have indiscriminately disturbed all aspects of our social, political, and economic situations, at scales both small and large. The ties between us all have been thoroughly tested during these difficult years, and as time trudges on, it seems like the continually arising global issues know to show us no mercy. With the cascade of the war in Ukraine, sociopolitical turmoil within the US, rising tensions between the US and the East, and the lurking shadow of Monkeypox, it is more crucial now than ever to grasp our faith in kindness and compassion, and hold hope tight between us all, supporting one another and believing in ourselves all the same. This showcase aims to put this sentiment on a pedestal, attempting to inspire hope through visual and tangible works of emotionally-stimulating displays. Is there anything more vital?

Reference Images

The images below were captured by the curators and could be used as references for what we are looking for within submissions:

An old woman with gray hair with white streaks tied into a bun wearing red framed glasses, sitting in a wheelchair in the park, cradling a small brown dog.

Photo credit: Darwin Fermin

4 old women, 3 wearing headscarves, chatting posed in front of a red convertible with a yellow New York state license.

Photo credit: Darwin Fermin

Brooklyn Bridge in black and white from under an overpass.

Photo credit: Darwin Fermin

Displayed Art Submissions (LK Edits)

Below are all the art pieces that were selected to be displayed in the Dibner Art Showcase with the artist's description about why they feel the piece fits the theme of Hope. Congratulations to all of our wonderful and talented participants!

You can find these art pieces on display on the third floor of 5 MetroTech Center in the Bern Dibner Library until January 20, 2023.

FEAR by Darinka Arones, BA in Studio Art '25

As a Peruvian immigrant and artist, I’m significantly interested in showcasing artworks that portray my emotional process of adaptation to the US. In my art––especially in this photograph––I use saturated colors to create and highlight the surreal sensations that migrating had on my inner self: homesickness, anxiety, melancholy, grief, but most importantly, hope. Indeed, I was going through a harsh adaptation process, but in top of all overwhelming emotions, I had hope––hope of being able to overthrow all obstacles and achieve my dreams. Therefore, this is what my photograph––literally––means and is titled as: "I Fear and Hope." Highlighting the beauty (through facial expressions and colors) and reality of having hope but also being aware of weaknesses that I am willing to identify and improve (as an immigrant) in order to go beyond "hoping for a better life", but achieving it instead.

 

Three color photographs lined up vertically. First photo on top features a person with half their face obscured. Second photo in the middle features the same person with their face through their fingers. Third photo on the bottom shows the person's palm obstructing the view of the camera.

Coexistence by Shivani Gawande, MS in Computer Engineering '23

This art piece is an attempt to depict the coexistence of both good and not-so-good side of our personality, an outcome of self acceptance and self compassion. For people who are finding a little difficult to navigate and manage a certain aspects of their personality, this art work presents hope and give a glimpse of the calm which comes after self acceptance.

 

Painting of two people lying down on the middle of the page almost as though an inversion of the other. The top half person is orange, red, and yellow, while the bottom half person is blue and purple.

To Infinity... by Becky Hsu, MS in Interactive Telecommunications Program '24

This photograph is taken during the same family trip to Peru, where we were on small airplanes and flying across the Nazca lines, a group of pre-Columbian geoglyphs etched into desert sands. The shadow on the terrain is the airplane that we were riding on. While on the plane, I looked outside the window and realized how small and tiny we were as human, comparing to the borderless dessert. It was until I looked down on the ground that I saw the shadow of our airplane. The shadow that seemed so free and careless, elegantly floating on the surface of the terrain. It looks like as if we are the composer of this Mother Nature, demanding different instruments to play their part of the music. Humans, after all, should have hope for controlling the uncontrollable and trust our capabilities.

 

Earth's terrain with the shadow of an airplane in the center.

Wherever We Go by Becky Hsu, MS in Interactive Telecommunications Program '24

This photography was taken during my family trip to Lake Titicaca, Peru. There are a few families who still lives on the highest habitable lake in the world. The village is built on the lake with totora layers, a type of bamboo-like substance that grows in abundance on the shallow waters of the lake. These islets are anchored to the lake bottom but can move up and down on their own, according to the water levels, somewhat like rafts. Since the location of this small village is relatively close to the sun, each of the people who lived here have dark, red skin toned. The child that I took photos of was one of the sons from a family. He kept on following me during our group tour around their village. He seemed to be curious but also excited of our visit and our appearances. The loving and vibrant energy that he carries surprised me at that moment. Despite of the deficit of daily supplies and limitation in all kinds of resources that cause people in this village have limited access to the outside world, this child always kept his smile, greeting everyone that he met. That is the moment when I realized that there is always hope given to every kindness soul.

 

A small child wearing a blue and white brimmed hat and a teal and white striped vest over a long sleeved red shirt walking on rocky terrain.

The Blessing of Life by Si Yue Jiang, Bachelor's Degree '26

The hand depicts hope, as it offers light, giving life a chance in an otherwise desolate environment. The lotus also depicts how from muddy water even beauty can be created.

 

Digital art piece of a woman in the center of an open lotus reaching out her hand to a large hand hovering over her. Dark background with lotus leaves.

Hopeful Landing by Michael Landa, BS in Business and Technology Management '23

The image depicts a performer hoping to land perfectly on a structure in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

 

A person in mid-jump on a trampoline with a background of a city skyline in black and white.

Renewed Hope by Nawal Panjwani, BS in Biomolecular Science '23 and MS in Biomedical Engineering '24

This image was taken at the beginning of last Fall semester. It was our first semester back in person since the pandemic started, and the feeling of uncertainty was nerve-racking. The sunset this day was probably one of the most beautiful I've seen. It provoked this renewed sense of hope and I remember leaving the pier feeling refreshed, inspired, and ready to take on the new semester. The city was there for me and I was there for the city. It felt great.

 

Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan skyline with pink hues of a sunset sky

Empathy by Anne-Marie Prekezes, BS in Computer Science and Design Media '25

The concept of empathy ties into hope as the more empathy we have, the more hope there is for humanity to take a different direction and build up our environment and people.

 

Black and white collage with pops of red. Features a person with black hair, red lips, red nails, and red shirt on the left, an anatomically accuate heart in the center being injected with a syringe with red liquid, a background of text clippings and barcodes.

San Limit by Anne-Marie Prekezes, BS in Computer Science and Design Media '25

This photograph depicts a person reaching for what appears to be an endless sky littered with bubbles. It almost has a childhood feel; children have this bright energy and exudes hope and moments like this reflect that energy.

 

A hand reaching out to touch bubbles on a background of a blue sky.

Hope by Moazamah Rubab, MS in Construction Management '22

Hope is waking up to the beauty of life on whose behalf we can act. With Hope we realize that there are adventures in store, strengths to discover, and comrades to link arms with.

 

An ocean with houses, boats, and fir trees on the immediate right during sunset with pink clouds.

Boardwalk by Ayman Siam, BS in Mechanical Engineering '23

Depicts the idea of resiliency and smiling through our hardships and always seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and to always keep going!

 

A bearded man with a brimmed hat leaning against a railing with a background of the beach in black and white.

Hustle & Nurture by Ayman Siam, BS in Mechanical Engineering '23

Depicts the idea of working hard and finding meaning through it, in many ways the hope of the "American Dream"is not what we expected but we make the best of what we got and hope things will get better.

 

A woman and child kneeling on a mat selling necklaces and bracelets in black and white.

Chasing by Elaine Song

They are running towards the sea, chasing after their dreams down the sunset, fulfillment and hope is depicted by their action and the harmonious color of the sky.

 

A group of 4 people running on the sandy beach towards the ocean during sunset.

The Shift by Keer Zhao, MS in Interactive Telecommunications Program '23

This project starts without a defined purpose — the unconscious part of me was taking the lead. Gradually, as the shape and the color start to emerge, my conscious part awakes — a sense of familiarity evolved between me and my art piece. Yet, the ultimate meaning of this piece of art could never be fully revealed; or simply, such meaning does not exist at all. The ambiguity of the future resembles the elusive nature of the consciousness. And I realized, nothing is certain, but uncertain. It is the sense of hope that stands between me and nihilism; and for a moment in my life, the only thing keeps me grounded and the intrinsic driving force that motivates me to create, to actively let go excessive emotions, and to make a compromise with my ego. Eventually, it evolves as a shape of a flower, but is not truly a flower. It symbolizes the dynamic movement between the conscious and the unconscious, and inherits the ambiguity of the two states.

 

Digital art piece featuring a gray speckled border with a white and red square in the center. The square contains an abstract blue spindle-like structure.

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