Fall 2018: Maisie Haney

     

       During my fall semester of 2018, I studied abroad in London at CAPA. I chose the unconventional university for study abroad students, because I thought the school’s uncanny ability to match students to unique and befitting internship placements would be valuable to me as an Art History major. 
      Academically, I spent the semester studying modern arts of London and post-war subcultures of Britain, both with immersive field studies and museum visits. In my Modern Art in London course, we spent much of our class time visually analyzing modern works that illustrate artistic complexities unique (for example, we analyzed works by Paul Nash and Henry Moore). Contrasting with the survey-style course, the post-war class examined subcultures from the mod and rocker to grime, with reference to theoretical subculture-centric discourse. My final papers (which alone constituted my final grade) were about the context unique to New York dada, and the rejection of conventional punk rock in the post-punk movement. 
      While I took classes at CAPA, I interned for Rory Scott (the head of PR) at Photobox Group on a project celebrating the centennial of Armistice Day. The project was multifaceted in its many partners, media, and technologies; we planned to work with Ancetsry.com, the British Army, BBC, and artist/director Bran Symondson to commemorate soldiers buried at Grand Ravine Cemetery. I worked alongside a research team at Ancestry to create moving soldier profiles, that would be enhanced by anecdotal participation from living family members. Though the project never came into fruition (The British Army backed out of the project, greatly affecting plans for the documentary we were making with BBC), my research will be kept to use for another year. 
      Many of my pre-departure writings, however, hint at more extracurricular activities that connect my course materials to my interests in punk music (which was easy in London). When I was not doing work for my classes or internship, I spent every minute I had familiarizing myself with the local music scene, building my music photography portfolio, and interviewing interesting residents for my radio show and CAPA blog. Curricular and subsidiary activities informed each other in an endless cycle, which made study abroad experience that much more treasured.