A faux finger nestled within the cracks of a broken sidewalk. Two paper cups placed on a ledge with a cigarette butt below. An array of windows covered up by newspaper clippings, broken glass or other litter.  

These images may appear to be ordinary objects, undeserving of artistic recognition. But Nicole White, a photographer and art professor at Diablo Valley College, is challenging her viewers to see beyond the mundane as she captures the story each of these items contain. 

The DVC Art Gallery’s showcase of her series, entitled “It’s Not Possible, Of Course,”  encourages students and broader community members to come in and witness what the gallery description calls “White’s evocative collection that bridges the seen and the unseen” for themselves.  

Jayce Jenner, a 22- year- old studio arts major at DVC, described the exhibit as “a conversation on solitude and observation, and trying to find things underneath the surface.”

In explaining the show’s origins, White wrote that she was inspired to create the series after travelling to Italy for DVC’s Study Abroad program, and journeyed through unknown territory “not knowing where [she] was going until [she] had arrived.” 

“I’m always looking for something,” she wrote in a photo caption. “It keeps me from allowing the unseen to become the seen.”  

The show made an impact on students who came to see it.

Kylie Rivera, 20, said, “It’s better than being [in Italy].  I don’t know if my eyes could see all of this.” 

Another student at the exhibit observed that White had “captured your everyday setting that people just pass by all the time, but it’s unique in its own way.” 

The show, which included more than 20 works in all, ran from March 3 to April 4.