Wing Young Huie's Artist Statement
Often when photographing I feel the tug of both the exotic and the familiar. Such was the case with Vantage Points II. I went to college, but the Carls I photographed occupy a “cozy” parallel universe distinct from the metropolis-like University of Minnesota that I attended. Laser tag, coed dorms, hot tubs, hidden plastic animals, ritual mailbox flower stuffing, hammocks, and ice croquet were not part of my campus experience. But then again the world has changed a bit since my matriculation a generation or two ago.
Even so. There were other things that I didn’t get a chance to photograph, such as human bowling, group streaking, primal screams, the Tofu Queen, the International Rock, Papers, Scissors contest, the infamous Rotblatt softball game, and the mysterious Schiller bust (nobody I asked even knew of someone who might know of its whereabouts), to name a few.
When I was figuring out my project proposal I asked students to describe the “character” of Carleton. “Quirky” was mentioned several times. One said, “granola.” Carleton’s Web site has a page titled The Character of Carleton: “No one word can characterize Carleton, because it is the people who give the College its distinct character. Qualities that are repeatedly mentioned when describing Carleton students, faculty, and staff are: individualistic, fun, involved, adventuresome, respectful, friendly, intense, funny, intellectual, cooperative, committed, innovative.”
No mention of quirky or granola. I decided to get at this “character” by focusing on rituals and events outside of the classroom. I looked at the Carleton Web site listing of events, read the Carletonian, the NNB, the bulletin boards and banner announcements at Sayles, and queried faculty, staff, and students. The students often gave their responses with a wry, knowing smile, as though I was asking about an eccentric uncle. Some of the answers were widely known, some were not.
One student e-mailed me about the “plastic cow cleverly hidden in the libe.” I couldn’t find “libe” on my campus map, though, and had to ask someone, not realizing it was short for library. After an hour-long, unsuccessful search, disturbing studiers with, “Do you know where the cow is?” I finally asked the person at the front desk, who responded by pointing up at the circulation sign above me. I asked the young woman if she knew how it had gotten there. She shook her head no and made that wry smile.
She did say, however, that she heard about a great drawing of Middle Earth on the wall at Goodhue. I looked there, came up empty, but was told that it might be at Myers, which it was. And so it was in this manner that I gumshoed my way around Carleton College—had I gone there, my memories of higher learning assuredly would be fonder.