By Vija Mendelson, API Program Manager and Director of Intercultural Initiatives
Here we share another photoessay with some great images of cities where API students go! If you missed the first post on the Middle East, you can enjoy it here.
(You can also read more about the project at the end of this post.)
- Piazza San Marco with manhole cover -
- Gondola on canal with vaporetto sign -
- Sunrise over the canal with graffiti -
- Rialto bridge with neighborhood signs -
- “Rush hour” on the Grand Canal with St. Mark’s lion symbol -
- Clocktower with Calle Mezo de la Vida (“Midlife Street”) -

- Door buzzer/mailbox with post office sign -
- Grave marker on Isola San Michele with street sign -
- Iron gate and statue from Isola San Michele -
- Virgin Mary altar and Carnival mannequin -
- Old doors in abandoned buildings -
- Angel statue on a street in Cannareggio -

- Jesus statue in front of church in Cannareggio -

- Grave marker from Isola San Michele with canal in Castello -

- Trevi Fountain with historical plaque -

- Rome graffiti with Forum ruins -

- Forum sign and nearby weathered wood -

- Colosseum with Forum stone roads -

About this project:
As a visual artist who loves to travel, I think photography can be a great way to explore and engage with the places you visit. The common thread in my work is experimenting with how original prints can be combined as raw material for my finished pieces – I’m intrigued by how multiple images fuse together to create a new reality, one that often mirrors imagination and/or memory. Although I usually work with film, I recently found a way to continue this approach with digital photos as well. In person, these pieces are two separate color digital prints on transparencies, layered and lit from behind with a lightbox effect. Online, these are simply two layered digital images. Regardless of the format, they often leave the viewer wondering where one image begins and the other ends.


