Changing up the Space
Every course is more than its curriculum - it is also the space in which learning unfolds. Where we gather, where we walk, where we stand together to experience art and history shape how we think, feel, and create. Research in education consistently shows that learning deepens when students are invited into diverse environments: museums, archives, gardens, and public spaces that embody the very stories we are studying. Spaces are not neutral - they hold memory, knowledge, and atmosphere that a classroom alone cannot contain.
This summer, in Photojournalism Class, we explored not only photography, guest speaker moments, but also the importance of place. Each outing became an extension of our classroom, an opportunity to see and feel how context informs creativity.
At the Amsterdam Archives, we encountered the layers of history held in documents, images, and narratives. Here, students could see how visual storytelling is part of a longer continuum of preserving memory and truth. It was a reminder that photojournalism is also about archiving moments for future generations.
Our time in the Hortus Botanicus offered a completely different experience - surrounded by living textures, colors, and light. The garden became a metaphor for observation and patience, teaching us that images sometimes grow slowly, and seeing requires both stillness and attentiveness.
Visiting Framer Framed, the contemporary art gallery, expanded our view into how photography interacts with installation, activism, and curatorial practice. Students reflected on the way images can be placed in dialogue with other mediums, inviting viewers to question systems of power, representation, and belonging.
The World Press Photo Exhibition brought us face-to-face with the intensity of global storytelling. Here, students saw the power and responsibility of photojournalism at its sharpest edge - images that provoke, disturb, inspire, and demand attention. It was a powerful conversation starter about ethics, impact, and courage in visual storytelling.
Finally, our visit to the International Institute of Social History underscored the importance of archives not only as storage but as living testimony. Students were able to see how photographs intersect with social movements, labor struggles, and histories that continue to shape the present.
Each of these spaces taught us something unique, something a classroom could not hold on its own. They expanded our senses, sparked conversations, and reminded us that learning is as much about environment as it is about content.
As I reflect on this course, I am grateful that our journey was not confined to four walls. Instead, it unfolded across archives, gardens, galleries, and exhibitions - each space contributing its own voice to our collective exploration. In the end, photojournalism is not just about images and visual storytelling; it is about how and where we encounter them. And in these spaces, I watched students not only learn, but see differently - arriving at more curiosity, more creativity, and more courage to step into the world with their cameras and questions.
