Please join the MassArt Photography Department as we showcase works by 2024 senior Gertrude Käsebier Prize recipient, Nick Ortoleva '24.

to you, from seoul will be on display in MassArt's North Crackatorium Gallery March 24 - April 4, 2025. There will be a reception on Tuesday, March 25, from 4-6pm (following the Photo Department's annual Alumni Panel from 2-4pm in Kennedy 406).

Nick Ortoleva's to you, from seoul is a collection of photographs taken in Seoul, Korea in 2024. Ortoleva (b. Seoul, Korea) grew up in Central Massachusetts, and currently resides in Boston where he works as a Fine Art Printer and Digitization Specialist at Digital Silver Imaging. He uses his camera to document and shape a segmented narrative through his lens. He often reflects on personal experiences and his relationships with the communities in which he has found kinship. He frequently references stories he hears of family and traditions passed down through his heritage as he continues to write a memoir through his own visual language, warping perception, color, and light. In his most recent work, he explores family archives and returns to Seoul, Korea for the first time since his birth to uncover what an unknown place of origin can hold for the individual as a means to discover Oneself.

Ortoleva received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design ('24). During his time as an undergrad, he was awarded the Gertrude Kasebier McPhee Grant ('23) and the Gertrude Kasebier Palmer/Tourlentes Travel Grant ('24), which he used to travel to Seoul and begin his reflection on place. Nick has shown work in group shows at Abigail Ogilvy SoWA, Panopticon Gallery, and the Photographic Resource Center Boston.
Thanks to the generosity of a MassArt Photography Program supporter, the department has a set of prizes to offer to Photography majors each spring. As a whole, these prizes are known as the Gertrude Käsebier Prizes. Two are granted to extraordinary Photography sophomores, two are granted to excellent juniors, and one is granted to a uniquely accomplished graduating senior.

The senior applicants must submit a written statement setting forth a plan to pursue a body of work in a specific place over a period of at least six weeks. The purpose of the award is to enable the student to explore in depth a single place, and to have the experience of living in an unfamiliar landscape. The recipient will receive a $5,000 grant to fulfull their travel plans. They are invited to particpate in the Photography Department's annual Alumni Panel the following spring, and hold an exhibition of the work from their travels.