If the opportunity to study abroad wasn't on the table for you this year, you can get a look at Ireland right here on campus.
Cynthia O'Dell, a professor of art and art history, spent nearly six months of this past year on the Green Isle for her photography exhibit, Messengers of Yesterday.
"I knew I wanted to do a project there, but I didn't know what shape it would take," said O'Dell. "When I was a kid growing up, I heard about my mothers' great great grandma Secmon, who wanted to go back to Ireland. Hearing stories of people who can't go home stuck with me and made me realize I needed to go."
Secmon lived in a grass dugout on the Oklahoma prairie.
"Ireland, to her, represented a better world, but it was all a myth," said O'Dell.
The project features photographs that highlight the potato famine that Ireland faced and the hardships of the people. The exhibit was shown in the 2013 commemoration of the Potato Famine in Kilrush, Ireland.
Some of the works include quotes taken from the Irish National Folklore Collection.
Children were asked to go home and ask their grandparents to tell a story. These stories were then compiled into the collection. O'Dell sifted through the collection and chose quotes that illuminated her photographs and landscapes.
For instance, one of her photographs features a ghostly image of an old family portrait and includes the quote, "The people were dying so fast he used to have a coffin with a false bottom."
Other photographs feature transparencies of old documents and portraits that were passed down in O'Dell's family. Her technique involved taking a photo of the transparencies in front of modern Ireland.
"While it is an unrealistic scenario, by taking images of my ancestors back to their native country, I symbolically complete the circle of their migration pattern," O'Dell said.
Though the Irish Potato Famine happened in the nineteenth century, the economy of Ireland is still struggling.
The famine, also often referred to in Ireland as An Gorta Mór or The Great Hunger, was a time of much poverty for the country. The cause of the famine was a potato disease known as potato blight, which made all of the potato crops fail.
It is estimated that over 775,000 people, about 20 percent of Ireland's population at the time, lost their lives due to the famine and the diseases that came with it, such as cholera.
O'Dell's great-great-grandmother, who was forced to flee her homeland, always had a vision of Ireland that wasn't necessarily accurate.
"So many people have a vision of Ireland as a utopic homeland," said O'dell. "I wanted to show that Ireland transcends the cliché of the American returning. Messengers of Yesterday is my exploration of the famine, but from my perspective and within a contemporary framework."
Approximately 250,000 people emigrated from Ireland to England, Scotland, the United States, Canada and Australia because of the famine.
'"One cannot possibly know - but I am trying to understand - how the death and migration of millions from Ireland can be translated artistically," said O'Dell.
O'Dell spent her time in Ireland to explore her family history and get new information on the country her ancestors called home by talking to people and hearing their stories.
"I had many conversations with lots of folk," said O'Dell. "One woman I talked to gave an amazing quote that really stuck with me: 'We are running as fast as we can from our poverty.'"
O'Dell spent much of her trip traveling, driving almost the entire perimeter of the island in June. She discovered many of her rich stories on the road.
"Whenever I would ride in a taxi or cab, I was always asking about the famine, about people visiting, the economy and North-South issues," said O'Dell. "I had this one cabbie who was a grandfatherly type and we got to talking about my project and my roots. He ended up going to a family research center and found my family record. He sent me a certificate that said 'Good news Cynthia, you're Irish!' and I have it hanging in my office now."
O'Dell worked with a historian that took her to several locations for shooting, including a mass burial cemetery
"It turned out that a lot of new research on the famine helped break down stereotypes," said O'Dell. "Contemporary research has shed light about conflict between England and Ireland."
The exhibit opened Monday night, but a select few of O'Dell's students go to see the exhibit in the works.
"Professor O'Dell's exhibit shows a different side of photography that was inspiring to see," said sophomore Cassidy Melendez. "The quotes that go along with many of the pictures really make every piece unique."
First-year Kainat Akmal, who also saw the exhibit first hand, was impressed by the amount of photographs hanging.
"It was overwhelming," said Akmal. "Though there were so many pieces, each of them seemed well thought out and evoked different emotions. The colors and images were so vivid and breathtaking. It made me want to visit for sure!"