Paul Rockower Photo Proposal

Photo Proposal
Paul Rockower
Candidate: Master of Public Diplomacy ‘10

Program: To put on an ethnographic, public diplomacy-oriented photo exhibit at the Annenberg School for Communication. Possible spaces include ASC 207 and the Annenberg Gallery on the 2nd floor lobby, or Annenberg Center on Public Diplomacy. Concurrently, the photographs would also be exhibited digitally on a website tailored to the exhibition.

Background: Before attending USC, I previously worked as a photojournalist. My photos were used in articles for the Jerusalem Post. I have material from Southern Africa, from a 6-month trek from Beijing to Cairo and from a 6-month stint living in South America.

I began displaying my work while I was an undergraduate at Brandeis University. My first exhibition, Wanderings- featuring photography from Europe and North Africa, was displayed in the student art gallery at the Shapiro Student Center. Two of my photos received prizes in the Brandeis Study Abroad photo contest. I went on to exhibit this collection in coffee shops and art galleries in Houston, Texas. The exhibit was also part of Terre Incognito photography festival, in conjunction with FotoFest, one of the nation’s largest photography festivals. The exhibit received favorable reviews in the local Houston press.

Proposal: I am interested in obtaining sponsorship and space to put on a photography exhibition in the Annenberg School for Communication in the Fall 2009 semester. I am willing to put the exhibition on at cost, as I am interested in having the photos gain exposure as opposed to commercial purposes. Moreover, the project could potentially serve as the practicum component of my Public Diplomacy degree.

A major focus of the proposed exhibit centers on Public Diplomacy. The field of Public Diplomacy deals with promoting values, ideas and concepts to foreign publics. Public Diplomacy focuses on the transmission of message and values, and the exchange of ideas via advocacy, cultural exchanges and cultural diplomacy, listening endeavors and the field of international broadcasting. This photo exhibit will highlight the cultural diplomacy realm of Public Diplomacy, and help promote cultural exchange by transmitting images of the outside world to USC students.

Beyond exhibiting images that connote shared humanity, heritage and cultural linkage, the exhibition will also offer explanation of the public diplomacy field, and the history of photography of public diplomacy.

Photography as Public Diplomacy: Photography has long been an important medium for the practice of Public Diplomacy, as it can help exhibit universal values and shared culture. The Family of Man photography exhibit was one of the most successful public diplomacy endeavors that USIA ever carried out. The Family of Man exhibit comprised 503 photographs by 273 artists, chronicling the vast human experience. The exhibit traveled along a thirty-eight-country tour that straddled both sides of the Cold War divide, and was met with packed crowds. (See: Cull, Nicholas, The Cold War and the United States Information Agency, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2008, p.115-117)

Material: Visit http://levantinephotoproject.blogspot.com to see possible exhibition subjects. Alternatively, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/levantine18 to see examples of my work.

Possible Partners: Annenberg School for Communication, School of International Relations, Center on Public Diplomacy, GPSS, Study Abroad Office, Visions and Voices, Center on Communications Leadership and Policy and USC Office of Globalization.