Photo Shot in Kenya Earns Happny ’10 First Place in Citywide Art Show

Three Holy Cross students took home honorable mentions, while Nora Happny ’10 won first place prize in the sixth annual Colleges of Worcester Consortium Arts Show at ARTSWorcester’s Aurora Gallery.

Happny’s winning photograph, titled “The Little Engine That Could,” was taken in Nairobi, Kenya last June when she participated in the College’s new Study Abroad program. While there, Happny volunteered at CFK’s Youth Sports Association, immersing herself in Kenyan culture by learning about local politics, cultural figures and the country’s official language, Kiswahili.

Through these interactions, Happny, a sociology and studio arts double major, captured the prize-winning moment. Her photograph depicts a short line of children playing in the streets of Kibera and pretending to be a train.

The judges of the art show, Antonio Fonseca and William Rudolph, were impressed by the professionalism of the photograph and said it stood out among the mix of 325 photographs, works on paper, sculptures, computer art and paintings that had been submitted, according to the Telegram & Gazette.

Happny, who is a field hockey player, has maintained her connections to the people she met in Kenya. She sold other photographs taken during her Study Abroad experience in her hometown of Portsmouth, N.H., to benefit the CFK. Read more about Happny’s work, view a photo gallery and watch a video on the athletics website.

Her piece can be seen at the ARTSWorcester’s Aurora Gallery, 600 Main St., through March 6. Three Holy Cross students received honorable mentions in the show:

* Laura Anthony ‘10, “Target City” (Mixed Media) * Thanh Nguyen ‘10, “The Protector” (Sculpture) * Kendra Smith ‘10, “Breakfast” (Mixed Media)

View Happny's award-winning photo in the photo blog.

By Mary Moczula ’11

Pictured: Nora Happny ’10 with a child she met in Nairobi during a Study Abroad experience last summer.

February 5, 2010|nm