Photo Exhibit Chronicles Spanish Professor’s Summer Travels

AURORA, Ill. - Aurora University will host “The Lure of Language: A Personal Portrait of Mexico, Spain and Costa Rica,” a photography exhibit, Sept. 18-Dec. 23.

Mexican Scene—Flower sellers in Merida, Mexico, are among 36 photos on exhibit at Aurora University Sept. 18-Dec. 23. “The Lure of Language: A Personal Portrait of Mexico, Spain and Costa Rica” is in the education gallery at the Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures at Dunham Hall, 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora. Call (630) 844-7843.

Aurora University will host “The Lure of Language: A Personal Portrait of Mexico, Spain and Costa Rica,” a photography exhibit, Sept. 18-Dec. 23.

Denise Hatcher of Aurora, AU assistant professor of Spanish, will display 36 color photos she took last summer. The location is the education gallery at AU’s Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures in Dunham Hall, 1400 Marseillaise Place in Aurora.

The exhibit opens with a reception from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 18. The public is invited to meet Hatcher and view her work. Refreshments will be served.

Sonia Valenzuela of Aurora, Schingoethe Fellow for 2008-2009, curated the display.

Hatcher’s exhibit is based on 1,000 photos she took leading study trips to Mexico and Spain, and during a conference in Costa Rica.

In May, she led 10 students on a three-week language immersion experience in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. For two weeks in June, she traveled with students to Barcelona, Spain.

Hatcher ended her travels in July by presenting a manuscript at the international conference for the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese in San José, Costa Rica.

Hatcher said, “The photographs are priceless to me as an educator since I can incorporate them to reiterate and reinforce cultural components in the various Spanish classes that I teach.

“My travels and experiences confirmed my belief that people and different societies have a lot more similarities than differences. In each country, I found people working hard to support themselves and their families. I visited places of great wealth as well as extreme poverty.

“I used my Spanish skills in each country to venture off the well-traveled paths, and to interact with many, many individuals. “In my photographs,” Hatcher said, “viewers will find the people, places and things that I have seen and from which I have learned invaluable lessons.”

Schingoethe Center hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

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