The Senior Thesis Exhibition, which will be on display at Gormley Gallery from April 29 - May 17, showcases various works from Jensen Armstrong and Rebekah Borman, who are seniors graduating from the art department at Notre Dame of Maryland University. Works include abstract landscape photographs and an art history thesis. The students are working with concepts such as the role of light in landscape photography and visual culture post-9/11.

Rebekah Borman’s body of work focuses on the relationship we have with landscapes and lighting. She explores this by abstracting the forms to focus on the colors and lighting in the landscapes around us. The interest in abstraction comes from the Impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet. By replacing the rapid paint strokes with gleaming streaks of light, she introduces a new approach and outlook on landscape photography. Rebekah hopes that “the viewer will approach the artworks with an open mind on what a landscape photograph traditionally looks like.”

Jensen Armstrong is an art historian and emerging museum professional. Her research interests focus on 20th-century art history and 21st-century visual culture. Her thesis focuses on how visual culture affected American perceptions of the War on Terror, specifically looking at photos from embedded journalism and movies within a broader historical context. By utilizing these media forms as case studies, the paper works to establish how they worked effectively to reinforce the government narrative. Jensen hopes that “viewers will look critically at the media around them moving forward and how images shape the way we understand the world.” 

The Senior Thesis Exhibit highlights the extraordinary work of these dedicated students preparing to graduate from Notre Dame of Maryland University with their B.A. in photography and art history, as they are progressing into the world as artists and arts professionals.

Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Free admission; for more information, call 410-532-5525 or log onto www.ndm.edu/gormleygallery.