Last Updated:10:50 PM EST 3/11/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Provided Photo Mark Rice's exhibit depicts his six month stay in Can Tho, Vietnam.

Media Credit: Megan Baker A guest book for the Rice exhibit.

Mark Rice, chair of the American Studies department, his wife Anne and their two children, Hudson and Lily, jetted to Can Tho, the third largest city in Vietnam.

For six months the Rice family adjusted to their new lives in Vietnam, as Rice co-taught with Vietnamese professors in the subject areas of American literature and American society and culture, at Can Tho University, as part of a Fulbright scholarship he received from the United States Department of State and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Rice has now been home for many months, but as of March 1, photographs from his time in Vietnam have been on display in the Lower Level Gallery of Lavery Library. Rice's work will be on exhibit until March 31, 2008.

"I have been an active photographer for more than a decade and knew that photography would be an important part of my life while in Vietnam," Rice said. "I purchased a new digital SLR camera prior to leaving for Vietnam. When I found out that the library had created an exhibition space and was scheduling exhibits for the school year, I contacted them to let them know that I was interested in exhibiting my work."

The exhibit features a number of photos that seem to portray images of old world Vietnam with images that emphasize hope for the future. Rice took great care in choosing the photos he would exhibit.

"I chose the photographs on my own, but in consultation with my wife, who has a good eye," Rice said. "I started by selecting as many of the stronger individual images as I could, then edited to see if I could arrange an exhibition with recurring themes and narrative threads."

Rice is very proud of the exhibit and hopes that Fisher continues to showcase artwork in this manner.

"I think [the exhibit] holds together pretty well and I think the space that the library has set aside for exhibiting art is good," Rice said. "The library staff, particularly Nancy Greco and Melissa Jadlos should be commended for helping to enrich the artistic environment on the Fisher campus. Let's hope that we can keep going further and further in that direction."

Rice hopes that students will be able to gain new perspectives from seeing his work.

"Students should stay open to seeing the everyday in new ways," Rice said. "There is a big world out there that they should want to experience as much as possible."

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