The Honors Modern Literature classes presented their yearly art exhibition throughout the Salem High School hallways, inviting all P-CEP students to look at their work. 

The art projects demonstrated various topics selected by the students, ranging from the stress students feel due to school, to how society pushes the idea of the perfect body type. 

The Modern Literature class enabled the students to explore several modern and post-modern artists and apply the philosophy to the works they created. The students classified some of the pieces they created as ready-made, installations, and poster art. These were the most prominent examples taught in the class. The students drew inspiration from well-known artists to create their pieces. An example of one of the well-known artists was Judy Chicago, an installation artist. She depicted feminine characteristics in her own art that embodied women in history and culture. Another prime example is Marcel Duchamp, a ready-made artist who takes ordinary objects and alters their appearance, by joining or tilting to transform the object into art. Lastly, Andy Warhol was a pop artist known to commercially advocate for many companies by making posters and ads. In the class, the students incorporated some of these artists´ techniques throughout the exhibition.

The pieces created for the exhibit have in-depth meanings, with the majority challenging societal norms and expectations. The students formed their pieces based on topics that they wanted to bring attention to, especially those that they wanted their fellow P-CEP students to take notice of. 

Gallery • 8 Photos

Raica George

“The Papier mâché Person.” Alejandra Zarate-Garcia, Plymouth junior, exhibited “The Papier mâché Person” on the second floor of Salem High School. The statement in this piece shows the views of success determined by the amount of hard work put into learning a skill. This art piece took a week to be created, incorporating donations of used paper. March 13, 2023.