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Page 7 Vassar Still Life captures campus through shots of found objects

Nina Ajemian

Arts Editor

Vassar Still Life is a messy museum of images that, collectively, can only be described as being so Vassar. The Instagram account (@vassarstilllife) shared its first post on Oct. 25, 2019 and has since posted 226 similarly random, yet oddly meaningful Vassar still lifes, most submitted anonymously by other Vassar students. Weird, contradictory, ironic and important, these photos mark the seemingly insignificant, yet evidently noteworthy, traces of our presence on this campus.

The subjects of these photographs range immensely: lonely masks abandoned on the sidewalk; milk cartons next to Marlboro cigarettes; overflowing recycling bins; unsuspecting solo cups in unexpected places. Together, these found objects captured on camera tell the story of Vassar—its culture, its vibe and the random moments that make up life here.

I’ve followed @vassarstilllife since last spring and honestly wish I had come up with the idea myself, as many of my own photos easily fall into this genre. So I was really excited to meet the person behind the account, who wished to remain anonymous, and chat about this space that they have created.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Miscellany News: What sparked you to start Vassar Still Life?

Vassar Still Life: There was a bunch of random stuff just kind of left in the entrance of my dorm building one of the first few days, and I took a photo because I thought it was really funny—it was like olives and veggie chips and very stereotypically, I don’t know, Vassar. And I just took that and took a couple other photos of random things I saw lying around move-in week, and they were just these little Vassar still lifes. And I was like, what if I just posted these random, little photos of just objects and little still lifes? And then I really enjoyed doing it, and it kind of spiraled.

The Misc: I liked the line in your bio: “intentional and unintentional readymade.” What does the idea of readymade mean to you, and when you were taking the photos how did you decide what you were going to photograph? What made you see something and think, “Oh, this is a Still Life—this is something I want to share?”

Vassar Still Life: The theme of the account is kind of split between what would more classically be just like a still life and what would be more like a readymade or Dada kind of inspired piece. But I guess I choose things that I feel either look interesting and look like they shouldn’t be there, or even if they should, anything that I feel reflects the culture or lives of Vassar students. I really just want the account to be authentic documentation of the way that people live at Vassar and the way that Vassar exists. And I feel like, especially with social media, it’s so focused on individual people or groups of people, and it’s very curated and edited and posed. And just photographing random objects the way that they just happen to occur or even setting up funny little tableaus of objects is a more authentic representation of daily life.

The Misc: What is it about Vassar and the culture here that you think makes it suited for this type of account?

Vassar Still Life: I feel like this account would be really different anywhere else. What people are doing is reflected, so there are substances in photos and people doing art—it’s a lot of what people happen to leave around. It is really interesting to see the same things that reoccur in everyone’s photos, whether it’s photos my friends are sending me or people I don’t even know. Just like people doing creative things, like art supplies, also just like a lot of milk and cigarettes are in every photo.

The Misc: Definitely a theme. And I saw on your account that you made a zine [We paused here to discuss the pronunciation of the word “zine.”] with photos from last year, right? What was that process like?

Vassar Still Life: That was a project I’d wanted to do every semester of just compiling all the photos, doing tallies of what different objects reappear most, because I think the trends of what people have constantly around them is really interesting. And I also just wanted to make the photos more connected to each other; even though they’re kind of posted randomly and not really in sync with each other, I wanted to show that there are connections that you can make with some of them. And I also just really wanted to make a zine, and I left it a few places around campus and I want to do it again this semester, especially since I’ve gotten so many more submissions.

The Misc: Because this semester and this whole year is just so different than last year, do you feel like the connection to campus and that connection to your account feels different?

Vassar Still Life: Yeah, I definitely think so. It’s helped me stay connected to different parts of campus, especially with more restrictions on what dorms you can go into and not going into classroom buildings at all, basically. It’s really been nice to see that there’s life still happening in the places I’m not able to go.

Life is certainly still happening on campus, and @vassarstilllife reminds its followers of that. The little moments it shares are what really matter. These simple images of objects, clutter and messes are sacred. They are raw and real, a true reflection of Vassar’s offbeat character.

Courtesy of @vassarstilllife.

Exhibit examines public and private portrayals of women

Continued from EXHIBIT on page 1

“The Checkered Dress,” a watercolor painted in 1907 by Hilda Belcher, depicts a young woman reclining in a chair. Her relaxed pose and casual dress place the setting firm-

ly in the domestic sphere. Belcher confessed she considered the painting “fake,” as it was constructed from various sources—her memory of a dress, her imagination and her friend and fellow artist Georgia O’Keefe’s face—rather than one distinct moment. Another portrait of note, “Study of a Head,” was done by Vassar Class of 1870 alumna Elizabeth Rebecca Coffin. The daring close-up, unconventional for the time, enhances the unknown woman’s direct gaze. Her long,

exposed neck, Gibson-girl styled hair and set jaw signal her modernity to the viewer, likely inspired by Coffin’s own identity as a college-educated, unmarried woman living in a time when the expectation for women was motherhood.

Moving into the second gallery, a series of domestic scenes and idyllic landscapes greet the visitor. Perhaps the most arresting painting is Florine Stettheimer’s “Natatorium Undine,” which displays diaphanous bodies garbed in whimsical hues frolicking about at a fantastical pool party. The artist herself can be seen at the top left, reclining under a yellow parasol. Stettheimer deeply valued her privacy, so it is no surprise that this decadent, exuberant gathering takes place in an imagined landscape rather than one drawn from her real life.

Finally, the third room contains documentary photographs as well as paintings and sketches that convey intellectual narratives. This gallery differs from the first two as it reveals the works created by women who entered the public sphere, a realm considered suitable only for men until the 20th century. An image entitled “Nurse Attending to Ill Woman at Home” offers an intimate look into the everyday life of ordinary New Yorkers during the early 1900s. The photographer, Canadian-born Jessie Tarbox Beals, was part of a group documenting social conditions for charity organizations before becoming the first female news photographer in the United States. Towards the center of this gallery is Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs’ allegorical linoleum cut, “Black Venus.” The cut parodies Sandro Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” but this goddess takes a more active role, steering two fish to ride over the waves rather than standing passively in a clam shell. According to the Loeb’s description of the piece, Burroughs promoted Black art and culture while fighting for social justice, co-founding the Southside Community Art Center and the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago to spread her love of art to the community.

In “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Nochlin explains that “It was indeed institutionally made impossible for women to achieve artistic excellence, or success, on the same footing as men, no matter what the potency of their so-called talent, or genius.” Despite the limitations faced by women, the sheer diversity of subject matter, medium and style in the exhibit reveals that these artists’ creativity and imagination could not be extinguished by the prominent societal expectations of the 17th to mid-20th

centuries. “Women Picturing Women” serves as a recognition of female artistic pursuits in times when art was a man’s world, a farewell to the Loeb for Patricia Phagan and a renewed pledge for the museum to acquire and display more works by women.

Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News. Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News.

March 18, 2021 Asian-owned Fresco’s runs strong amid pandemic Janet Song for 16 years, but only came to New York virus spread. “It was simple,” she explained. leave campus at the time of the interview. Features Editor eight years ago. Her family originally em- “I continued to disinfect tables, wear masks “I see students come here all the time!” she

When you think of Fresco’s, “Asian busi- igrated from Fujian, China, to the United and wash my hands once I was outside of cried. “Without masks!” I asked her to clarness” does not come to mind. On a States, and as she described her past, she work.” ify. “Yes, I see them walking in front of our daily basis, the restaurant serves a variety of recalled some of her struggles settling in a As we talked, she briefly asked me about building,” Kim said. “So many of them,” Mexican cuisine, from fajitas to tostada sal- new country. “What was most difficult was my own life at Vassar. “You’re an A.B.C. though I couldn’t verify if they were stuads. But despite the warm tacos and tortillas adjusting myself to English,” Kim said. “My [American Born Chinese], right?” she dents from Vassar. it serves to the Poughkeepsie community, English wasn’t great at first.” As she settled asked. We had been speaking Mandarin And while her business continues to serve Fresco’s has been an Asian-owned business down, what drew her to Poughkeepsie was through our interview, which had made me takeout, Kim explained how many dining for eight years. Kim, the owner of Fresco’s, the community. “There are a lot of Chinese realize how much I had missed speaking the restaurants have suffered since the pandemhas had to adjust her small restaurant to a families in the town,” she said. “Overall, I language back home with my parents. “My ic. At the end of our interview, Kim emphapandemic-stricken world. For the most part, feel that it’s a safe place with many nice peo- children, too, are in college,” she said. “I’ve sized safety as an important thing to keep in however, the adjustment hasn’t been difficult. ple, with lots of police, teachers and doctors.” always wondered what it’s like for them mind during COVID-19. “Wear protection, “We closed our shop for a month [after we Upon arriving in Poughkeepsie, Kim soon there.” While Kim told me she didn’t experi- don’t leave campus without masks,” she heard about the pandemic],” she explained to acquired Fresco’s after the previous owner ence any anti-Asian racism during the pan- said in a terse but well-meaning manner. me on the phone. “After that we’ve been doing retired. Today she continues to serve tacos, demic, she has worried about her children: Continuing to practice COVID-19 protocol takeout for the last year.” Fresco’s continues enchiladas and other favorites through take- “I’m worried if they’re facing any racism on means the sooner restaurants can open and to sell warm tortillas to Vassar students and out, and while she says nothing major has campus.” Fresco’s can allow indoor dining again. Poughkeepsie residents. changed, she did explain to me some of the She seemed to be in disbelief when I told To place an order, call Fresco’s at (845) 485-

Kim has been living in the United States precautions she adopted when news of the her about how students weren’t allowed to 6650. Welcome Oriental supplies foodstuffs, from boba to bean curd

Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News.

Taylor Stewart

Managing Editor

Welcome Oriental Grocery is situated about a mile north of Poughkeepsie’s Stewart Airport, in a New Hackensack strip mall. The family that currently runs the store inherited it from the previous owner. Welcome Oriental remains a small operation and cozy community staple. They stock goods that are all too rare in the Hudson Valley: In addition to staples of college cooking like spicy ramen, you’ll find snacks (with pickings from Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and more) and even fresh produce.

Running the grocery store doesn’t only involve shelving, customer service and cleanup; the owners are responsible for sourcing their items, too. The variety would rival similar markets in the city. Naturally, the owners have one distributor in Brooklyn and one in Chinatown. They trek to the city to restock—a trip made not only more dangerous, but also quite troublesome, by the virus. They used to visit two times a week, ensuring that their shelves were stocked to maximum capacity, but due to increased closings among their distributors, they have had to reduce the ritual to once a week. They used to get hot prepared foods from NYC on Saturdays, roast duck and dim sum and the like—no more, ever since the pandemic.

While being a small business makes the daily schedule much busier, it does have its perks for the clientele, making shopping much more personal. The owners will often add to their stock based on customer requests. Or when popular American magazines feature a certain ingredient or product, they try to incorporate that food into their shelves to meet the new demand. Magazine features are to thank for Sriracha’s popularity it seems, and more recently chili crisp.

Some of the market’s “specialty” foods, many of which have similarly rose to fame in the West and across its social media, include brown sugar boba ice cream, bubble tea mixes, Thai ice tea and mochi (in many fun flavors). Welcome Oriental also offers frozen dumplings and buns, rice noodles of several shapes, an impressive array of condiments (from fish sauces to Japanese seven-flavor spice blend) and even meat substitutes like seitan and dried bean curd. The produce selection includes lemongrass, bitter melon, taro, enoki mushrooms, leek, often for much cheaper than at chain groceries in the area. They even provide chopsticks and bamboo steamers.

Despite the unique barriers presented by distance and space—the store is but a few shelves, though they are packed satisfactorily— the owners do humbly insist that business continues to run smoothly, virus and all. People still need to cook after all, maybe more now than ever. And with former NYC residents relocating to the Hudson Valley (former frequenters of perhaps the country’s greatest Asian grocers), the clientele may have even expanded. Welcome Oriental refuses to fret.

You can contact Welcome Oriental at (845)462-6433.