SUNY College at Old Westbury alumna Fiona Lee talked about her “The Rising” photography art exhibit virtually on Zoom. However, on October 7th, 89 lucky listeners got to virtually “walk through” the exhibit with the artist and gallery director Hyewon Yi.

Fiona Lee, a recent alumna of the Visual Arts Department at SUNY College at Old Westbury, who has covered multiple topics in photography such as fashion, modeling, and the death of her uncle in Guyana, is now diving into the Black Lives Matter movement.

Stepping out into the front lines during her two month survey,  Lee captured the  moments media doesn’t always show at the NYC and Long Island protests. Lee has said that she “wanted to capture moments that were not being highlighted in the media. Wanting to show the authenticity of what the movement was/is supposed to be.” Lee might have healthy skepticism because of her Legal Studies degree she obtained before going to SUNY Old Westbury.

The photographs taken on a Nikon D750 are truthful, sad, and hopeful. You see the community seem to fall apart and patch itself together again. Images like Weeping Women, A Brother in Need, and The Summoned Mother jump out at you. To comfort a stranger in a time of staying away from strangers in order to give them solace is beautiful. The artistic choice of most being black and white and some in color is masterful to the story being told.

Photo documentation of historical events is very important and having an unbiased eye attached to that is useful to the public and also historians.

The photo Little Girl You are Loved comes to mind. The photo of a girl kneeling with a sign that says “I’M ONLY 9 YEARS OLD AND I HAVE EXPERIENCED RACISM,” with a stern look on her face and a shirt that says “Fearless” is gut wrenching, but at the same time not totally desolate; maybe the next generation will get it right.

When asked about her motivation, Lee said, “The coverage that I saw on the media. Watching the news everyday and following up with Covid as well was very important to me. To go out and capture what was truly taking place at the protests, not just the destruction and chaos, but also to see what was happening in the forefront of the entire event… was there any commrodiere or injustice against the police..so we can be truly informed.”

Overall, the exhibit is a dose of reality.