The art gallery is currently hosting a photography exhibition.

“We Are Selma: The Selma Portrait Project” is an free exhibit open to the public from Sept. 21 to Oct. 19.

The exhibition was done by Photography Professor Kathryn Mayo, who took a sabbatical last year to return to her hometown of Selma to take on this project.

“I used a historic process, the wet plate collodion process, as the means to take the photographs,” Mayo said. “That was the same photographic process that was used during the Civil War and I wanted to use that to photograph modern day activists in Selma, the people that are trying to do good things for Selma to make it better.”

An opening reception was held on Friday, featuring a brief introduction by Dean of Communications Colette Harris-Matthews, and Art Professor Yoshio Taylor.

Mayo was then given the microphone, where she thanked the campus and her husband, Doug Winter, for all of their support. Afterward, she handed the floor to Music Professor Omari Tau as he performed a song of prayer.

College President Edward Bush also attended the event and fully supported professors using their talents and pursuing projects.

“To be able to have one of our faculty show their artistic work through these photographs, I believe, means a lot to the college,” Bush said. “It’s personally rewarding for me to see our faculty being able to express and demonstrate their skills in this type of way.”

During the two-hour reception, the art gallery was filled with students, faculty, and many other individuals as they gandered at the exhibit, took photos, and talked with one another. Food and refreshments were also served.

One individual in attendance, Thomas Patterson, was a former CRC student as well as a former classmate of Mayo when they grew up in Alabama.

“It’s a change of history and just good to see some of the South out here in California to represent the state of Alabama,” Patterson said.

Twenty-year-old psychology major Journey Ferguson complimented the event and talked about what she took away from the event.

“I think it’s really cool,” Ferguson said. “I’m a really big fan of portraiture because I feel like everyone’s picture tells a different story.”

Mayo embraces everyone to come into the event and to walk away with their own ideas and thoughts on the project.

“They’re on glass so they’re one of a kind; they’re not a print or a duplication, there’s just the one that exists. And when you look at it because it’s on glass, you see yourself in the picture also and I wanted that to be part of the process,” said Mayo.

The CRC Art Gallery is open to the public from Monday through Thursday between 11:00am-5:00pm. “We Are Selma: The Selma Portrait Project” will be available until Oct. 19.