2008 Woodie Awards
Communities in Crisis
Art inspired by Katrina relief work
Bethany Hergert, Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/20/07
Last Updated: 8/9/07
"We were frustrated when we got to Jackson because it was a lot more difficult to rebuild in a spiritual way than to just put a roof on a house," Wilson said.
The devastation the storm caused was shocking for Wilson, but the way in which people survived having their lives scattered was most interesting to him.
Many of the homes they saw were demolished down to the steel support rods that had once held the houses together. While previewing what the Jan Term trip would entail by visiting the area in which they would be working, Wilson saw random items that had once belonged to the homeowners balanced atop these beams. This inspired one of his gallery pieces, titled "Sentinels, Gulf Port."
"We saw these salvaged objects on the tops of these pillars," Wilson said. "They were almost like a symbol of hope. When we came back in January, they were still there. It was as if they were sacred objects that no one wanted to touch."
Sophomore Kyle Navis was one of the students who took the Jan Term trip with Wilson and was at the gallery's opening. Having seen the artwork, Navis feels that though only firsthand experience can perfectly instill in a person what they encountered, Wilson's artwork encapsulated many of the sentiments felt during their time in Mississippi.
"I think that the pictures begin to capture some of the more poignant emotions that you go through when you get to the coast and find little semblance of what it once was," Navis said. "It doesn't quite capture just how devastating the hurricane was. Only going there can really imprint that on you."
Wilson's trip to El Salvador was very different than his Jan Term experience. Instead of repairing something that was ruined, he was creating something new for the community he helped: a source of clean water. Wilson did this mission trip through Living Water El Salvador, but it was the members of the community who most aided him while there.
"We were the inferior people learning how to do these things from the native people," Wilson said. "They were helping us help them."
The pieces from this experience portray people he came in contact with in a realistic form.
Wilson's hope was to depict them exactly as he had experienced them. Wilson hopes to do more mission-oriented trips in the future and feels as though these kinds of experiences that he can express through art are his way of expressing a view of humanity.
"I do believe art is important, that art helps us to be more human," Wilson said.
The devastation the storm caused was shocking for Wilson, but the way in which people survived having their lives scattered was most interesting to him.
Many of the homes they saw were demolished down to the steel support rods that had once held the houses together. While previewing what the Jan Term trip would entail by visiting the area in which they would be working, Wilson saw random items that had once belonged to the homeowners balanced atop these beams. This inspired one of his gallery pieces, titled "Sentinels, Gulf Port."
"We saw these salvaged objects on the tops of these pillars," Wilson said. "They were almost like a symbol of hope. When we came back in January, they were still there. It was as if they were sacred objects that no one wanted to touch."
Sophomore Kyle Navis was one of the students who took the Jan Term trip with Wilson and was at the gallery's opening. Having seen the artwork, Navis feels that though only firsthand experience can perfectly instill in a person what they encountered, Wilson's artwork encapsulated many of the sentiments felt during their time in Mississippi.
"I think that the pictures begin to capture some of the more poignant emotions that you go through when you get to the coast and find little semblance of what it once was," Navis said. "It doesn't quite capture just how devastating the hurricane was. Only going there can really imprint that on you."
Wilson's trip to El Salvador was very different than his Jan Term experience. Instead of repairing something that was ruined, he was creating something new for the community he helped: a source of clean water. Wilson did this mission trip through Living Water El Salvador, but it was the members of the community who most aided him while there.
"We were the inferior people learning how to do these things from the native people," Wilson said. "They were helping us help them."
The pieces from this experience portray people he came in contact with in a realistic form.
Wilson's hope was to depict them exactly as he had experienced them. Wilson hopes to do more mission-oriented trips in the future and feels as though these kinds of experiences that he can express through art are his way of expressing a view of humanity.
"I do believe art is important, that art helps us to be more human," Wilson said.
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