"Don Doll, S.J. On Assignment" exhibit on display at College of Saint Mary's Hillmer Art Gallery
Omaha, Neb. – “Don Doll, S.J. On Assignment,” an exhibition of images taken in refugee camps around the world, will be on display in College of Saint Mary’s Hillmer Art Gallery beginning Monday, Oct. 26 – Friday, Dec.18. A reception with Fr. Doll will be held on Thursday, Nov. 19 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. The exhibition comprises images of refugees from Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Darfur, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Congo, Uganda, Chad and Jordan, as well as landmine victims in Angola and Bosnia, and child soldiers in Uganda and Chad. Admission is free and open to the public.
Fr. Doll, whose work has been featured in “National Geographic” magazine, has traveled the globe “to tell the stories of people who have no voice.” For the last 20 years he has documented the work of the Jesuit Refugee Service in some 50 countries, serving the poorest of the poor – men, women and children forced to leave their homes and often their countries.
One “On Assignment” image travels to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, where Doll walked through the Mugunga Refugee camp which houses more than 100,000 people fleeing violence. “It was gut-wrenching to view men or women rubbing their stomachs or putting a hand to their mouth indicating their hunger,” said Father Doll.
Other images give insight into violence in Gulu, Uganda, where Doll photographed 18-year-old Nancy Auma with her baby, Alolyo. “I have survived,” she told the photographer in the language of her native Acholi, where child soldiers cut off her nose, lips and ears, saying, “We have no use for you, a pregnant woman.”
Doll is a Jesuit priest and professor emeritus of photojournalism at Creighton University, where he holds the Charles and Mary Heider Endowed Jesuit Chair. Among his awards are: the Kodak Crystal Eagle Award for Impact in Photojournalism in recognition of his work with Native people; Nikon’s World Understanding through Photography Award; Photographic Society of America’s highest photojournalism award; Nebraska Arts Council’s Nebraska Artist of the Year; Chief Standing Bear Organizational Award; and the Word-Sender Award from the Neihardt Foundation Center.
In addition to “National Geographic” magazine, a number of “Day in the Life” books have featured Doll’s work, including “America”, “California”, “Italy”, “Ireland”, “Passage to Vietnam”, “Christmas in America” and “America at Home”. His photographs also have been published in “Crying for a Vision”; “Vision Quest: Men, Women and Sacred Sites of the Sioux Nation”; and “A Call to Vision: A Jesuit’s Perspective on the World.” He appears in Don Doll’s Vision Quest, an award-winning documentary produced by NET Television, Nebraska Public Television.
