In Kahn Gallery Photo Exhibit by Carmen Pullella ’16, Every Image Tells a Story

When Carmen Pullella ’16 points her camera and captures a single second in time, a story emerges.

Pullella’s photographs most often depict people engaged in common daily activities—walking down the streets, riding home from a day’s work, enjoying repast. But her artist’s lens captures details, expressions and circumstances that expand the world around her subjects, so that viewers of her work are compelled to linger and imagine their own stories.

“Slice of Life,” an exhibition of Pullella’s photographs, is on display in the Kahn Gallery on the third floor of Neilson Library through February 2. The exhibition includes photos Pullella took during trips to South Africa, Italy, the Czech Republic, Israel, Turkey, Palestine and France.

Pullella is the first student to exhibit in the new gallery space, which opened as part of the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute this fall. The gallery features displays of art, photography and research by students, faculty and staff from Smith and the Five Colleges. The gallery is open to the public at no charge during hours when the library is open.

Photos by Carmen Pullella ’16 now on view in the Kahn Institute gallery in Neilson Library.

For Pullella, photography is all about telling stories. “It is challenging to capture a glimpse of life in its entirety,” she says, “but that is what I try to do when I look through my lens.”

Pullella, who was born and grew up in Rome, began taking photographs in high school. A psychology major at Smith, she has worked as a student photographer for the college news office for two years, and her work is often posted on Smith’s social media platforms.

Growing up, Pullella travelled often with her parents and sometimes accompanied her father—an international reporter—on assignment. Some of the results can be seen in “Slice of Life”—including photos of a young girl at a playground in Palestine, a group of smiling boys in the back of a pickup truck in South Africa and a rabbi sleeping on the New York City subway.

“Many of my photographs depict scenes from everyday life,” says Pullella. “They tell stories of simple things, small moments and hardships all humans experience.”

Accompanying the photographs in “Slice of Life” are captions that go beyond descriptive labels to provide an unusual look at the photographer’s process. The captions, written by Pullella, are personal vignettes about the moment the photo was taken, often including her thoughts, perspectives and frustrations.

“I try to give people a full understanding of everything about that one picture they are looking at,” explains Pullella. “I want them to feel an intimate connection to the people whose lives they have been let into.”

Pullella says she sees stories everywhere she goes—more than she can capture on camera. Occasionally, she misses an opportunity. “When I decide against taking a picture, whether it be due to lack of motivation or shyness, I always regret it,” she says.

To her, there are no insignificant stories. “Every story counts, even the simple ones,” Pullella says.

Additional photos from Carmen Pullella’s “Slice of Life” exhibit at the Kahn Gallery