Cross-cultural experiences can occur anywhere - half way across the world, three blocks from home, or anywhere in between. The trick is to recognize, reflect on, and appreciate these encounters when they occur.
Each year, the Global Colours Photo Contest challenges U of M students to submit photos that represent cross-cultural experiences they've had at home or abroad. The result is a spectacular array of photos and experiences that leave a lasting impression.
All entries are displayed in the Gallery of Student Art (GoSA) and prizes are awarded to the top three photos.
2013 Global Colours Photo Contest Submission Guidelines
Submission Period: October 22 - December 14, 2012
2013 Photo Contest Winners
1st Place: Matthew Hebert
(Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources)
While on a study abroad exchange at the University of Ghana, I was able to travel North to the country of Burkina Faso and it is here that this image was captured. Myself and my two companions rode a train across the country, from the Capital of Ouagadougou to the Westward city of Bobo-Dioulasso. Local villagers in all their bright colors rushed towards the train during its many stops. Mangoes and bananas over flowed from the buckets at top their heads. They would then bargain for the sale of their fruits in hopes of making a few Central African Francs or what they referred to as “cefa”. This particular experience showed me that we all work in an effort to profit from the fruits of our labour, no matter where it is we live in this world.
2nd Place: Caroline Halde
(Faculty of Graduate Studies - Plant Science)
Every Thursday, at Banglamukhi temple in Lalitpur (Nepal), neighbours come together to worship their gods and pray. They lit candles (Divo) and donate money and flowers as offerings for their gods. These offerings serve a dual purpose… Some needy children also come to the temple to play after school, but also to collect money for tomorrow’s lunch. During my stay in Nepal, I was amazed by the strong sense of community between all members of the community. This encounter taught me the value of sharing and how caring for members of our community is rewarding for all.
3rd Place: Amy Guenther
(Asper School of Business)
Nestled in the entrance to the wall and castle of Óbidos, Portugal, this elderly woman has sat here selling her needlework for many years. Every day, she greets shopkeepers, tourists and locals as they make their way into the bustling town within the medieval castle.
2012 Photo Contest Winners
1st Place: Bei Bei Lu
(Faculty of Graduate Studies - Kinesiology and Recreation)
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Enjoying local Market is the way for me to get involved in local “locally” when travelling. This little window shop owner, Mr. Lee, has run this shop for 47 years, selling traditional spices in one of the biggest local markets in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Every smell, bargain, smile and noise here seemed pretty charming. Mr. Lee said HI to passengers, bargained with customers and sold things through this small “spicy window”. He found his own way of enjoying life through this window, and spent almost all his life there. But for me, I just realized that everyone needs a window to be open to the world, which helps to find the charming way of life.
2nd Place: Kate Leask
(Faculty of Arts)
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A Shy Maasai Smile: While working in Kenya this past summer, I had the opportunity to work and teach in a rural village called Kajiado, a Maasai village. While there I was given the chance to go with a local doctor to help with a Feeding Program for traditional rural Maasai children. Predominantly the Maasai were a nomadic group of peoples, through the affects of colonization this has changed for some who now settle in permanent villages however. With the doctor we drove to the middle of nowhere, beyond where any roads went until we reached a little shelter. Maasai mothers bring their children every two weeks to get food donations if their child qualifies as emaciated and medications if needed. This picture is of one of those mothers, she walked for hours and hours with her sick babies to get them the help they needed. They had never even seen a camera and were very curious but shy.
3rd Place: Brad Lafoy
(Faculty of Architecture)
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Although I had travelled to other countries before, Havana was the first place I visited where poverty was the norm, rather than the exception. Its impact wasn’t something I was prepared for, but neither was the warmth of the people. I spent half an afternoon visiting and playing with Domingo (shown here playing in a dumpster near his family’s apartment) and even though I spoke almost no Spanish and he spoke almost no English, we got along and communicated effortlessly.
2011 Photo Contest Winners
1st Place: Sam McDougall
(Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management)
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In many countries around the world, education is not a privilege that every child has. This little Vietnamese girl has the freedom to play all day while she’s young; her parents own a flower farm up in the mountains near a remote village, so there is simply no school for this child to attend. As she grows up, she’ll learn how to help out on the farm, and then will probably be married off to another farmer, and continue her life in this way. She really has no other option, and this is not something she will ever fret over. That is just the way it is, and she’ll never know any better. This makes me feel both grateful for my own education opportunities, and selfish for having so many freedoms at my fingertips, yet choosing not to take advantage of them.
2nd Place: Daren Zuk
(Faculty of Arts)
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This photo was taken on the top of Mt. Sinai during sunrise, and it is one of contrasts in religion and in history. The top of Mt. Sinai, being the place where Moses received the 10 Commandments from God, it has a huge Biblical significance for many people of both the Jewish and Christian faiths. The person in the photo is the guide who took my group up the mountain to see the sunrise. He told us that he does this climb sometimes five times a day; ascending and descending the same route that Moses would have took some 3000 years ago. This Bedouin boy, who is just living his life, trying to make a living to support his family, walks these trails everyday giving little thought to the significance of this mountain to millions of people around the world.
3rd Place: Jonathan Ventura
(Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources)
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Volunteering and living in Benin, West Africa for 5 months made me realize that my perception of the world was so small. Volunteering at a children’s rehabilitation center was the most impacting and exciting experience of my life. The center had no ‘modern’ forms of technology, simply casting, and braces, but they performed miracles there. Transforming children who knees were inverted to straight legs. My duties as a rehabilitation assistant put me in positions where I had to help stretch limbs, and as a result putting children in extreme pain, which not only made them cry but me as well. They were deprived from birth, having mainly severe physical disabilities that would have been preventable by simple medical care. I will never forget those children, and how much love they had. If they are able to love everyone and anyone, I hope I can too.
2010 Photo Contest Winners
