Presidential Scholar addresses gun violence in photography project
BOULDER, Colo. — The weight of gun violence is something Whitney Toutenhoofd carries with her daily, and so the Yale-bound graduate of Boulder’s Fairview High School aimed to communicate that feeling in a photography project called “School Shootings.”
“Even if it’s not in the forefront of my mind, the threat of school shootings is there,” Toutenhoofd said. “This could be the day. Any day could be the day that someone’s going to show up here...it could happen any time.”
The photos are provoking and emotional, and several include shell casings. In one photo, the empty casings fill a clear, plastic backpack. In another, they’re scattered across a cafeteria next to a sack lunch. Perhaps the most jarring photograph shows a classroom clock shattered with a trio of bullet holes.
“I want my photographs to be a reminder to people that [gun violence] is an ever-present threat to students [and] to all people, at least until we can have meaningful change,” explained Toutenhoofd, who was named a Presidential Scholar in the arts.
She is one of three Coloradans named as Presidential Scholars this year. Read the full list here.
The idea for her “School Shootings” series came from an assignment in art class. The prompt was “materials as a metaphor.”
“I had the idea to take a clear backpack and fill it with bullet casings,” Toutenhoofd said. “The metaphor in that was that the weight of a backpack full of bullet casings, which is obviously very heavy, represented the emotional weight of going to school with the threat of school shootings.”
After Rocky Mountain PBS published this story, Texas-based artist Chad Rea pointed out the resemblance between Toutenhoofd's photo of the clear backpack and one of his pieces from 2017 titled "Weight of the World," which also depicts a clear backpack filled with shell casings. Reached for comment, Toutenhoofd said "I want to assure you that I've never seen [Rea's] work before in my life."
Toutenhoofd’s passion for photography started at a young age. Her father was a photojournalist, and when she was in middle school Toutenhoofd began going out with him in the morning and taking photographs.
“He sort of facilitated that love for me,” she explained.
“Only in the last few years, actually, have I gotten into [photography] really seriously,” Toutenhoofd added. “Making art as opposed to just taking pictures of my friends or whatever it is.”
Toutenhoofd is also a gun owner. Her family has competed in biathlons—a combination of cross-country skiing and target shooting—since she was eight years old. She said she feels that she “occupies a lot of different identities in the conversation around gun violence.”
As a student, artist, gun owner, and advocate for gun safety, Toutenhoofd feels that she has unique perspectives to share. But, she adds, there’s a lot of room at the table.
“Gun culture and gun ownership is vastly misunderstood and misrepresented, and there are a lot of people that are left out of that conversation whose voices need to be heard,” she said. “The way that we look at this issue currently is not as inclusive as it should be.”
She continued: “That’s actually really important, that we include all voices, all faces in this discussion if we want to actually make real change and accomplish what needs to be accomplished in order to save lives.”
Toutenhoofd hasn’t decided whether or not she’ll pursue a degree in art or photography when she starts school in the fall. But her passion for ending gun violence is here to stay.
“Gun violence prevention isn’t just an issue that I’m using for my artwork,” she said. “It’s something that I plan to continue working on for the rest of my life.”
Brian Willie is the Content Production Manager at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can contact him at brianwillie@rmpbs.org.