The Media Arts faculty have selected Bonnie Harris-Lowe, a senior Media Arts major, as the second annual recipient of the $1,000 Walt Hanclosky Social Issue Production Award, which supports a creative media production with the goal of social impact.

Bonnie’s video project, “Gatekeeping: Women, People of Color, and the Video Game Community”, explores representations of women and people of color in video games and their experiences in gaming culture.   An avid gamer herself, Bonnie thinks video games have enormous potential as an art form, but that the potential of the medium is constrained by an insular culture that discourages the participation of women and people of color.  Her project analyzes how the intersection of technology, geek culture, and prejudice – sometimes intentional and sometimes insidious – has led to the development of games that represent women and people of color in narrow, stereotypical ways, or omit them altogether.  She invites her audience to consider what the consequences of insufficient representation are for gamers, for our larger society, and for students and scholars of Media Arts.

Bonnie’s project is currently in production and is slated for completion this spring.