Melinda Modisette ’21 began an art exchange project aimed at connecting students across the world through art after receiving the Ogawa Service Leadership award in 2019. Her goal was for artists to illustrate, through half of an art piece, the defining characteristics of their home city and country and what they wanted to depict about their culture to students abroad. The half-completed art pieces, started by six students in Lanzhou, China and six students in Albuquerque were then exchanged by mail and finished by the art students in each respective country.
Melinda explains her inspiration for the project: “I wanted to help my community recognize that although nobody has the ability to change someone’s experiences, how they grew up, what kind of culture they were raised in, or what color their skin is, these aspects of a human being shouldn’t be changed, but rather cherished.”
The final pieces are now featured on the project’s website, which also details the students’ one-and-a-half-year timeline, including discussions surrounding cultural differences and similarities and the struggles they faced collaborating during the COVID pandemic. According to the website, the students learned to communicate with others in a completely different culture and see the world from another perspective — from how the tooth fairy operates in China to the differences in KFC’s menu in the two countries.
The Ogawa Service Leadership Award is presented to two Academy students each year who demonstrate leadership qualities and a dedication to community service. Students receive a grant which they may use towards a community service initiative for the following academic year.
