By Lauren Whelan ’14, Staff Writer

This past month, the Newark Academy community was awed by the stunning photo images displayed in the art gallery. This exhibit–Forgiveness and Conflict: Lessons from Africa-–included the work of Global Gpeaker/Artist-in-Residence Ms. Sara Terry.  Although Ms. Terry began her career as a freelance writer, she eventually transitioned to photography and photojournalism.

Ms. Terry’s breath-taking photography is known for its ability to communicate weighty issues and important messages regarding the aftermath of conflict. Her program “The Aftermath Project” was designed to reveal the truth about the wake of war, and to present the “other half of the story.”  The establishment of the program was based off of the belief that the aftermath is ignored and overshadowed by the publicity of violence during war itself. Ms. Terry’s photography captures the striking images of post-conflict situations in many war-torn regions of the world.

Her work is inspiring and admirable in both its beauty and its intention.   Through her engaging presentation to the entire school in an assembly on Tuesday morning, and her presence in many arts and humanities classes throughout the week, Ms. Terry’s impact has spanned across the entire student body. IB Artist Michelle Peng ‘14 states, “Ms. Terry had a lot of insightful comments about our artwork. She helped us explore the meanings behind our pieces and gave great critiques. Having her in class definitely helped us as artists.”

Sara Terry’s opinions and work have become prevailing topics not only in the classrooms, but in the lunchroom, hallways, and the community in general.  As the first guest to be invited as both a Global Speaker and an Artist-in-Residence, Ms. Terry’s impact marks a success in the individual program goals, as well as the goals of the combination. Mr. Kanarek, the advisor of the Global Speaker Series, was able to shed some light on the reasoning behind this junction. He explained, “the combination of budgets across two programs was able to bring a very highly-regarded speaker to the school.”

The idea was voiced two years ago, and since then, it has been carried out through the recruitment of speakers such as Majora Carter. Beyond the economic value of the combination, it enhances the impact each speaker has on the school. “It combines multiple disciplines,” says Mr. Kanarek.

Mrs. Brodie, the coordinator of the Artist-in-Residence-program, speaks to the same point. By combining resources, both programs were able to benefit extensively. Mrs. Brodie also believes that the coordination of the programs truly did achieve its goals: it encouraged and highlighted the strong connection between different aspects of students’ lives. Ahlia Bethea ’13 states, “I had actually seen some of her artwork in the gallery before I heard her speak. I really liked those photographs and the ones she showed during her presentation. I found her desire to want to capture what happened after a tragedy to be very inspiring. For a while, I have pondered with the thought that the human race is very reactionary and once we ‘react’ we lose interest. I am definitely going to follow the work of the Aftermath Project in the future.”

Her utterly moving images hanging in the gallery, along with her contributions to both the Global Speaker Series and the Artist-in-Residence program, have truly made an impact on the Newark Academy community. Ms. Terry’s presentations certainly evoked discussion that was provocative and engaging.