Memorial Union Gallery features ‘New Americans’ exhibit

A UND CONNECT project, ‘From Many Places, One Community’ captures stories of immigration, identity and the meaning of becoming an American

About 2 in 50 people living in North Dakota are foreign-born — about 4 percent of the state, according to the 2023 American Community Survey. While the share may appear small by national standards, UND and Grand Forks bring people together from all over the world. And those numbers represent people with names, faces and stories.

A UND CONNECT project from the Department of Communication, “From Many Places, One Community” sets out to tell those stories through photo portraits, video interviews and, now, a gallery showcasing the community’s new Americans.

On Sept. 8, the Memorial Union Gallery opened an exhibit for the New Americans project. The walls of the MUG are lined with the exhibit’s portraits, whose subjects are celebrating their connection to both their new home and their country of origin.

In total, photos from 15 participants from 14 countries line the gallery’s walls. Each photo depicts the new American holding something of cultural importance to their country: a flag, a book, a piece of clothing, anything to share a bit about their culture.

“New Americans are not strangers,” said Associate Professor of Communication Joonghwa Lee, who conceived and led the project. “They are already part of UND and Grand Forks.”

And judging by the sentiments shared at the ceremony, this message resonated with the audience.

What makes us American

“There was a lot of work that many don’t see that got us to this moment today,” said Kiera Musil, one of the students who worked on the project, as she addressed the audience at the exhibition opening.

“We were constantly editing, chopping and splicing our final video, editing the photos for today’s showcase, creating our promotional materials. We leaned on each other for help, support and guidance and worked on platforms we were just learning and mastering in our classes.”

UND President Andrew Armacost, who also spoke at the opening, noted that the gallery was especially meaningful because Grand Forks and the University have both become hubs for new Americans.

“Grand Forks has been notable in its support to those who are coming from other countries and choosing this community as their home,” he said. “Folks do not shed their identities by coming to the United States. They grow in their connection to others, but they also should honor and celebrate the places from which they come. That’s what makes us Americans.”

When the floor opened to the audience, which was filled with the portrait subjects, their families and leaders from the city and University, many shared how meaningful it was to see so many new Americans represented.

Students work to bring stories to life

The project — formerly dubbed “Celebrating Constitution Day in North Dakota” — grew from the University’s growing Constitution Day celebrations, which now include annual on-campus naturalization ceremonies. It soon morphed into a more ambitious undertaking backed by UND CONNECT funding.

Led by Lee — who himself became a naturalized citizen at a ceremony in Fargo last year — the project includes the photos and facts on display at the gallery opening and on-camera interviews with participants, all led by students from the Department of Communications.

“This became something much bigger than we talked about at the beginning of the project,” Lee said. “I’m very proud of it though, because all of the work has been done by students. They kept modifying the questionnaires and bringing in new ideas, and I think the end result captures the unique journeys of each person.”

From conducting interviews, snapping lively photos of new Americans and learning how to work with video equipment, the students got a crash course in media over the course of the yearlong project.

“I was originally just the digital storytelling coordinator, but to put all of this together, we learned that we all had to lean on each other,” said Musil. “I got to dabble in everything: how to use video equipment and edit pictures and videos too. We all got to apply these skills in real time, and it was a great way to learn.”

After the year’s worth of work, it was exhilarating to see the final product being set up in the gallery, Musil said.

“When we were setting up on Friday, we were like, ‘Whoa, this is it, this is what it’s supposed to look like,’” she said. “It’s just so great seeing all the photos by each other, and it’s so nice to see people and their families come together to see them. Today was a very ‘whoa’ moment — something I didn’t expect in my college career.”

During her own address to the audience at the opening, Musil’s fellow Communications student Lauren Huso shared similar sentiments. Huso said that she started behind the camera, and the work evolved into something much greater.

“At first, I thought my job was about documenting a few new Americans, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wasn’t just taking pictures. I was preserving history,” she said. “Each face I photographed told a story of courage, of sacrifice and of hope.”

Lee said that this focus on student work and leadership was something that brought him a great amount of pride.

“Our project is all done by students,” he said. “We asked participants to bring cultural items and family members. We kept refining questions so the photos and interviews could carry their unique journeys and culture.”

“You can feel it. You belong.”

One of those subjects was Agnes Selario Carlson, whose portrait shows her smiling with a Philippine flag draped around her shoulders. She decided to participate after her daughter asked if she knew anyone who would like to be interviewed.

“I want to do that,” she recalled saying.

Carlson said that her enthusiasm was largely due to the chance to share her story and experience with others considering naturalization, and to show new Americans that they aren’t alone.

“Seeing the photos in the gallery today gives us more like a sense of belonging — that there are actually people interested in knowing where we’ve come from and what we’ve gone through, whether with tears or with laughter,” said Carlson. “The journey seems long, but at the end it’s very rewarding.”

Carlson’s path to citizenship was winding as well as long, as the application process was plagued with twists and delays. But, she said that the pride she felt was well worth the wait.

“Holding that U.S. passport is kind of giving you that freedom to do a lot of things — travel, especially,” Carlson said. With some other passports, traveling can be limited, “and it holds you back from learning other cultures.”

And Carlson hopes that when other new Americans see the exhibit, they have the same feeling she does.

“When you become a citizen, you say, ‘This is my home now,’” she said. “You can feel it. You belong.”

Lee and his students aren’t finished displaying this belonging, either. On Friday, Sept. 19, the Department of Communications will showcase the finished video, which compiles the video interviews collected over their year of work.

“From Many Places, One Community,”