Leaving a Legacy Through the Moody Purchase Program
Kaia Austin ‘26 is an Art History Major with a Museums Concentration. They have worked as an Academic Programs Assistant at the SCMA since 2022.
A dilapidated enclosure. A grungy white wall. Ominous spillage of light. The haunting shadow of a cross that once was. These are the hallmarks of the official 2025 Meredith Moody Purchase photograph Saint Peter by S. Billie Mandel.*
Intelligent analysis. Purposeful dissection. Convincing proposals. Fierce debate. These mark the experiences of 20 Smithies, given the power to purchase a work of art for the SCMA through the Moody Purchase Program.
S. Billie Mandel. Ayana Evans. Carrie Schneider. Dona Ann McAdams. Over the last four years, I have met these artists. With each, we discussed their art, asked questions, and eventually selected one of their works to enter into the SCMA’s permanent collection.
Each artist was originally selected to be part of the Moody Residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY, which features one female photographer each year. At the end of the residency, the artist is invited to Smith, where a group of student museum workers, art majors, museum concentrators, and other students come together to select one photograph for the museum to purchase. The process begins with an introduction by the artist of their general work and practice, followed by a walkthrough of the photographs we have to choose from. Then, responsibility is handed over to students.
Program participants voting via PollEverywhere, an online voting platform.
This year, the process to participate in the purchase program was a little different. It was open to any and all students who wished to apply. Posters and digital flyers featuring the back of my head littered the campus advertising the program, a little funny to be confronted with personally, but effective at casting a wide net. New faces joined the purchase program this year with a wide variety of academic backgrounds, opinions, and aesthetics. The cohort pushed me to think deeper about what makes a work of art valuable to an institution, what the goals of collecting are, and ways various academic fields can help activate museum spaces and works. After several rounds of discussing, voting, eliminating, debating, and re-voting, we settled on one photograph. The final work contained elements and themes that were highlighted in several pieces Billie had brought with her: altered senses of space and time, light manipulation, queerness, accessibility, guilt, shame, and hope.
Students examine three photographs, from left to right: Janice Cai '29, Neva Smith '29, Sylvie Stempel-Jung '26, Jackie Walker '26 and Liz Chen '28.
The purchase program is symbiotically beneficial for all parties. The SCMA gains insight into what students believe is lacking in the museum’s collection and what they desire to see, while students come to understand the collecting process more intimately and are given a space to share their collecting desires. The artist, in my experience, is also incredibly grateful for the opportunity to share their work with students who are eager to analyze and debate the conceptual or aesthetic choices made in each photograph.
Artist Billie Mandle (center) speaking with Lily Mintz '26 and Joan Kobayashi '26. Jada Wordlaw '26 at right.
The Moody Purchase Program has been something I look forward to each year. I have engaged in fierce debates that almost ended in a voting stalemate, danced underneath bright green mesh fabric at the request of one photographer, and casually dined and interacted with artists I truly admire. I’m not sure many students can say that they were a part of a museum purchase. How many can say they debated the qualities and importance of a work of art in front of and in conversation with the artist themself? Or how many can go to a museum and see the effects of their participation? After graduating from Smith, I will be able to say that I helped select four works of art for the SCMA collection. I had my voice heard by the museum. I was instrumental in promoting the themes of the next generation. I, alongside those 19 other Smithies, can claim a small piece of the hauntingly beautiful image captured by S. Billie Mandel.
*Stay tuned for an image of the purchased photograph, Saint Peter.