Maria Staack ’22 is an Art History major with minors in Media and Film Studies and American Studies from Harlem, New York City. She has worked at the Tang Teaching Museum in several roles, most notably as the Meg Reitman Jacobs ’63 Endowed Intern, which culminated in her capstone project Un-Representation, an exhibition paired with programming which centered on the meditational power of abstract art by Black artists. As an artist and storyteller, Maria’s practice expands across multiple mediums, including fibers, collage, film, and writing. She is interested in exploring ideas of abstraction and absurdity in a culture that often emphasizes the importance of objective truths.
Lily Walsh ’22 is a Sociology major and Media and Film Studies minor. She explores documentary storytelling through film and photography. Her passion for filmmaking began when she received a Flip Camcorder as a gift on her seventh birthday. Since then, she has been drawn to visual storytelling and has continued to develop her filmmaking skills. Lily has experience filming, directing, and editing short documentaries, and she has been a production assistant on a feature-length film. Lily is particularly interested in themes centered around nostalgia, time, heritage, and connection. She is excited to grow as a storyteller and collaborate with other creative individuals over the summer!
Joel Puma ‘23, is an Ecuadorian American from Queens, New York. He is a Business-Spanish Major and Media and Film Studies Minor at Skidmore. This past semester he made 3 short documentaries. It was his first time filming, editing, and creating any sort of documentary. He instantly fell in love with the creative process behind filmmaking and wants to push himself and see what else he can create at the Storytellers’ Institute. As the son of immigrant parents, he always felt connected to those with similar backgrounds and being exposed to filmmaking has allowed him to express this background in the art he creates. A goal of his has always been to give back to the community that made him the person he is today, something he aims to do through film and storytelling, not just with his own projects but with others as well. Everyone has a story and he thinks it is important we give a platform to those that perhaps would not normally have one.
Student/Faculty Team
Riley Mallory ’22 is an Anthropology major and Media and Film Studies minor from Davidson, North Carolina. An aspiring documentary filmmaker, he believes in the power of stories to connect individuals across place and time. While studying at Skidmore, he has worked on a variety of projects dealing with wide-ranging topics such as human-nature interaction and social media activism. Initially drawn to narrative film, he found the world of documentary to be exciting and exceedingly creative; while also being a platform to combine academic interests with visual modes of inquiry.
Siobhan Hart’s (Associate Professor Anthropology) research examines heritage practice, the politics of community recognition, and collaborative research. As an anthropological archaeologist, she is interested in what we know about the past, how we know it, and how it matters to people today. Her research is unified by a concern with using archaeology, material culture, and community collaboration to address inequities in the world today. Engaging with contemporary communities about past lives and experiences through heritage work provides a focal point for dialogue and action that can improve quality of life, increase sociopolitical power, and contribute to dismantling structural inequalities. She has three current projects that research colonialism, community, and heritage in different ways: (1) an archaeological investigation of an 18th century Native American village site known as “Queen Esther’s Town” in northern Pennsylvania; (2) an examination of New England’s Native American heritage landscapes, community recognition, and political power; and (3) a study of heritage and sustainability and digital storytelling in Rust Belt urban settings including Binghamton, New York.
