As part of the summer colloquium “Cosmopolitan Ideas for Global Citizens,” each incoming NYU Abu Dhabi first-year student was invited to submit a photograph, taken in his or her local community, that captures something crucial about the nature of cosmopolitanism. The students were asked to title their photographs, but not to indicate the locations in which they were shot. Some students concentrated on the root of the word cosmopolitan, cosmos. Their photographs of wide expanses of the sky allude to an orderly world system. Other photographs depict the wide array of choices in the modern world, from commercial goods to friendships that cross boundaries. Cosmopolitanism is often associated with cities with diverse populations. Several photographs focus on the urban fabric of such cosmopolitan places, while others focus on the cultures that gives cities distinctive identities despite the effects of globalization.
Some of the results are presented below. Together they offer a compelling portrait of the richness of contemporary thinking about cosmopolitanism, while evoking the rich variety of cultures that have come together at NYU Abu Dhabi.
To mark NYU Abu Dhabi’s inaugural January term classes, twenty-seven of the photographs will be on view at 19 Washington Square North (on the NYU New York campus) in an exhibition curated by Kerry Barrett.
[Click on a thumbnail below to enter a slide show at that picture.]
- “A few were looking for food for thought; most were looking for food.” (K.A. Appiah) by Nacif Taousse
- Appreciate by Amani Alsaied
- Boating by Karina Kabbash
- Chile Qualifies for World Cup by Attilio Rigotti Thompson
- Choices by Erin Meekhof
- Cityscape by Charlotte Wang
- Co-Existence by Mark Hoffman
- Concordia by Darina Gancheva
- Cosmo-lingual by Abhishek Mehra
- Cosmos by Dmitriy Tretyakov
- ‘CUT’mopolitanism by Vivek Mukherjee
- Different Colors of the World (I) by Samer Nehme
- Different Colors of the World (II) by Samer Nehme
- Diverse Unity by Damla Gonullu
- Diversity by Brian Ndirangu
- Double Bridge by Tine Nansen Paulsen
- Freedom by Symone Gamble
- Friends by Kharisa Rachmasari
- Grocery by Lucas Hansen
- Hope by Zachary Stanley
- Horizon by Alexander Larkin
- International Understanding by Nahuel Rosa
- Intertwined by Jessica Tattersall
- KAMSC by Anthony Spalvieri Kruse
- Kinsfolk Know Not a Last Night by April Xiong
- Links by Connie Tang
- Midsummer, the Old Man, and Rest by Young Nae Choi
- Motion by Nicole Lopez Del Carril
- Next by Kun Lao
- Nothing Human Is Alien to Me by Damla Gonullu
- Openness by Irene Pañeda Fernandez
- Salvation by Usama Hussain
- Satisfaction by Alistair Blacklock
- Sharing the Sun by Laila Al Neyadi
- Steel on Water by Adam Pivirotto-Seligman
- Street by Xiaomei Wu
- Technology by Peter Ndichu
- The Law by Stephen Underwood
- The Meeting by Supatra Lee
- Under One Sky by Amani Alsaied
- UNICEF-Member by Usama Sami
- Unity by Beshiki Turazashvili
- Untitled by Ayaz Kamalov
- “We enter every conversation without a promise of final agreement” by Florencia Schlamp
- World of Shoes by Asad Ali