Jivyaa Vaidya ’23 Receives Fischlowitz Travel Fellowship

Jivyaa Vaidya, a third-year student from Indore, India, majoring in economics and Chinese, was awarded this year’s Fischlowitz Travel Fellowship for her proposal “The Colors of America: Storytelling and Street Art.”

The Fischlowitz Travel Fellowship provides an opportunity for international students at Grinnell to pursue independent travel in the United States while focusing on deep exploration of a chosen theme.

Vaidya will travel to Ohio, Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C., to explore street art — how it is viewed by residents, how it affects community, and how it shapes culture in these areas.

“I feel like street art is an underrated source of information about not just cultures, but also communities, people, local and national activity, political activity, economic activity,” says Vaidya. “Instead of just going to different places and looking at it, I want to talk to the locals about it and find out how they connect with it, how they feel about particular pieces of art, and how it is important to them. I want to define communities on the basis of the art that is within them.”

Both the creation and appreciation of street art, Vaidya says, is often a more personal and current experience and form of expression than what one might normally find in a museum setting.

“When we think of art, it’s usually in the context of museums and galleries, but that’s exactly what I want to step away from,” says Vaidya. “If I want to look at a Monet, for example, I can just look it up, but with street artists, a lot of times you don’t know their name. They’re anonymous. But they’re also living in these communities, and you can go and talk to them and interact with them and learn why they made what they made. A piece of street art is something that you pass by on your way to work, or it is something you smile at every day while sipping your coffee, or it can even be something that memorializes an important moment in local history. When it comes to street art, the deeper you dive, the more you learn about the community it is a part of.”

A Rare Opportunity

Vaidya’s interest in art began at an early age as she observed murals in her hometown coming to life and gracing her neighborhood with splashes of vibrant color. As she grew older and realized there was meaning behind these murals, the messages began to affect her as much as the pretty colors.

“I didn’t care about the symbolism behind it when I was a kid, I just like looking at the colors,” she says. “But then I watched as more and more murals started to be made, and I saw that the entire area started to transform over the years.”

And though she was eager to learn more about American culture beyond Grinnell, some of the unique realities of being an international student made this difficult.

“Seeing the world outside Grinnell isn’t always the easiest task, since public transportation is so limited. It’s hard to leave campus if you don’t have access to a car. Even catching a flight requires transportation.” says Emily Perry, assistant director of international student programs in the Office of International Student Affairs. “Making a trip out of town, or out of state, requires a lot of planning, time, and money. There are limited resources for international students.”

Additionally, Vaidya says, many grant opportunities in the United States are restricted to domestic students. Because of this, international students have limited options, “which is ironic since we spend so many resources, so much time, effort, and money to get here and then find we are restricted by the fact that we are here and we’re not able to get resources. Even up until this point, I’ve not had the opportunity to travel much in the United States. I knew the second I read about the Fischlowitz fellowship that it was a rare opportunity and that I wanted to apply.”

This was Vaidya’s second application to the program. Like a true Grinnellian, Vaidya took her previous attempt as a learning experience and was determined to do all she could to use it to make her next effort a success.

“After last year I emailed all the judges asking them for feedback to find out how I could do better this year,” she says. “I waited to apply this year until the deadline was very near because I worked closely with my writing mentors and adviser to make sure I incorporated all the feedback I received. I honestly did not tell anyone that I would be applying this year, because I was too scared that I would not get it this year either. But then I was really, really happy when the work paid off.”

Vaidya intends to begin travel during 2022 fall break and then during spring break in her senior year. She plans to create a blog and an Instagram page so others can follow along as she explores and to present findings and ideas to other international students and others with an interest when she returns to campus.

“I want to make people aware of this kind of art, and I want them to know the people who make it and the people who connect with it,” she says. “I want people to see how I used this to learn about culture in this country and hopefully show how other people can learn through art that is in their own lives and communities.”