Hawthorne-Longfellow Library’s new Ramp Gallery opened its first show recently, a student exhibition focused on place. James Boeding ’14 curated the show, which included work by 10 students.

Boeding said the theme of place was meant to highlight the many spots where art can exist. “The Ramp Gallery presents an opportunity to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to exhibit their work,” he noted, appreciating the disparate nature of the work. “It’s cool to see all these individual projects coming together wonderfully. That really is beautiful in itself.”

Hillary Miller ’14, a French and history major, submitted an image of Les Invalides, the burial site of Napolean I, which she took while living in Paris. It wasn’t until after she snapped the image on her iPhone that she realized the picture captured the casualness with which its current residents cohabit with the city’s history.  “There are so many buildings that has been there since the 15th and 16th century that the Parisians ignore because they are so used to seeing them,” she said.

She snapped the picture of Les Invalides on a foggy day while a man was running past it.  “He was in transit and probably didn’t notice the hauntingly beautiful scene developing before us as fog slowly enveloped Les Invalides,” Miller said. “He missed it because for him the monument is just part of the scenery, it has been part of the Parisian skyline since the 15th century and will still be there on his walk home from work tomorrow.”

Zach Morrison ’14, who had four works featured in the exhibition, also isn’t a visual arts major but is interested in photography. He studied abroad in Freiberg, Germany, and while there traveled across Europe, photographing diverse scenes and monuments. One photograph was taken during his first week in Freiburg, when he was standing on the border of France. Another was taken in Madrid, when he stumbled across an ancient monument that he later found out was built in Egypt in the second century, called the Temple of Debod.

Sophomore Jeffry Chung submitted three abstract photographs consisting of wall segments he found while waking in New York, Georgia and New Orleans. He is a visual art major and has been interested in photography since middle school. His three photographs are part of a larger series called “Surface Tension,” which examines flatness, both real and imagined.

“Thankfully I had my camera at the time when I was observing these beautiful formations and patterns that would otherwise not be appreciated,” Chung said.