UIC English student shows work in London gallery

By Chasitity Garland

Madeline Zuzevich, a third-year English student at UIC, was chosen to show work she created for the Newberry Library Undergraduate Seminar at the Holy Art Gallery in London.

Zuzevich, who is also a member of the Honors College, received funding from both the UIC Department of English and NLUS to travel to London for the opening of the group show “Praxis.” Zuzevich’s submission, “Augmented City,” analyzes the afterlife of the image. The work recontextualizes images first published in Strasbourg 1541, and in so, doing brings the premodern period into conversation with the present. 

Zuzevich created “Augmented City” during the 2021 spring semester. Each spring, the NLUS, an interdisciplinary program involving undergraduates from multiple Chicago universities, offers students an opportunity to produce original research using their world-renowned collection. Students, like Zuzevich, who are accepted into the Newberry Library’s seminar receive a stipend for books, materials and travel costs to the library from their home institution. 

The Newberry Library is dedicated to independent research. Enabling students to work with peers from other institutions, NLUS helps undergraduates develop professional networks and further their research skills. While not every NLUS student gets to travel to London to show their work, the seminar is just one of the many opportunities available to English majors and minors. In addition to an updated curriculum premiering this fall, UIC’s English department also offers students a robust internship program and a variety of courses designed to prepare them for the workplace. 

Reflecting on her experience of having her work accepted in an international group show, Zuzevich says, “Submit your work. There is someone who is going to love what you are doing. That’s just the way the art world is. Once your work is seen, that’s when your career begins.”