As I write this, I'm waiting for our students to return from their weXplore, a five-day excursion that takes students beyond their host city for immersive cultural experiences. For the past two months, we as a school have called Maun, Botswana, our home. It's a small town on the edge of the Okavango Delta and, for many travelers, a doorway into Africa. But Maun is only one perspective, and it...
Read MoreProud. Positive. Special.
Those are some of the words TGS students use to describe their emotional response to the THINK photographic exhibit that accompanies the school on its world travels.
In Sydney, the freestanding outdoor exhibit is currently drawing attention in Martin Place in the downtown business district. It features stunning international images captured by TGS founder Joann McPike on globally relevant themes such as beauty, despair, wisdom, wealth, curiosity and ritual.
On a recent trip to Martin Place, students and staff met Fatoum Chahrouk, one of the Southern Cross security guards responsible for protecting the artwork. She has enjoyed watching the public interact with the exhibit: “People are first drawn by the pictures and then they stop and really read the words. They spend a lot of time here. It is a very special thing.” One enthusiastic local said she planned to visit the show every day it was in the plaza, while a man who declared himself to be a “professional beggar” stopped to discuss his take on what constitutes a relevant education.
It’s precisely that kind of interaction and engagement that Jo McPike hoped to encourage with her provocative photographs and text.