Picturing belonging: global students find big meaning in small moments
Rifa Ika Pertiwi
What does it mean to belong? Is it sharing a last name? Showing up every day for a class? Having a jersey with your team number on the back?
Earlier this semester, students across the University of Arizona Microcampus Network were invited to explore this question through the Spring 2026 Microcampus Photo Contest.
Centered on the theme "Belonging: Small Moments, Big Meaning," the contest challenged students to capture images reflecting their personal expressions of connection, whether through relationships, spaces, shared experiences, or everyday stillness.
Step into the Virtual Exhibit
Contest submissions have been gathered into an interactive virtual exhibition. Readers are invited to stroll through the gallery and experience these powerful perspectives firsthand.
Submissions were evaluated by Arizona International staff, with winners selected by Emilia Mickevicius, Norton Assistant Curator at the U of A Center for Creative Photography. The winning photographs are displayed here in gold frames.
Celebrating Our Winners
Congratulations to our three award-winning photographers, whose submissions captivated the judges with their depth, atmosphere, and nuance:
Cao Đức Hiệp, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law
Finding Grace in Motion: This seascape captures a small boat gliding across wide, turquoise waters. From his artist’s statement: "The gentle ripples it creates remind us that even the smallest actions leave traces, connecting us to something larger than ourselves."
Rifa Ika Pertiwi, Sampoerna University
The Warmth of Connection: Set against an unusually clear Jakarta sky on the 19th floor of SU, this photograph captures four classmates leaning against a window after a psychology lecture. From her artist’s statement: "Four souls with different backgrounds, different life stories, different personalities, lined up side by side... basking in the warmth of the 11 a.m. sun."
Timur Kamarayev, Kozybayev University (North Kazakhstan University)
Reflecting on Systems and Humanity: This striking theatrical shot from the play A Cruel Lesson captures a dramatic, red-lit breaking point. From his artist’s statement: "For me, this photograph raises questions about how far people are willing to go to fit into systems of success, authority, and approval."
A Global Network Built on Shared Purpose
While these three images reveal specific moments in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan, the contest reflects a broader ethos of Arizona International and the U of A: one of building connections across cultures and countries.
Through partnerships with top institutions across the globe, the network allows students to earn two degrees simultaneously — from the U of A and their home university — in the time it would normally take to earn one, with options to complete part of their program in study abroad at the main U of A campus in Tucson.
Whether studying alongside local friends or making new friends and connections across thousands of miles, our microcampus dual degree students prove every day that distance is no barrier to community, shared understanding, and global perspective.
Full Winner Profiles & Artist Statements
Rifa Ika Pertiwi
Location: Sampoerna University, Indonesia
"It was a kind of morning that felt like grandma's warm hug. A wide blue sky stretched above Jakarta, looking almost unfamiliar without its usual veil of haze. We had just finished our Child and Adolescent Psychology class, and the room still carried a quiet sense of ease.
Four of my friends stood by the window, gazing outward as time seemed to slow. Their conversation was light, unguarded, just a pure form of human connection. They looked out at the mesmerizing view of skyscrapers and blue sky, while I found myself looking at them. In that stillness, I caught myself smiling.
Isn’t friendship such a beautiful thing? You choose people who share no blood ties with you to become a place you can lean on, a place to love, to exchange thoughts with.
Four souls with different backgrounds, different life stories, different personalities, lined up side by side, leaning against the glass window, sincere, basking in the warmth of the 11 a.m. sun from the 19th floor of SU, in the midst of Jakarta’s restless bustle, while waiting for the lunch hour."
Cao Đức Hiệp
Location: Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, Vietman
"In this vast expanse of turquoise water under an endless sky, a small boat glides forward, leaving behind a delicate, fading wake. This image captures a quiet yet profound moment of belonging. Amid the immense, seemingly borderless sea and sky, the boat finds its place—not by dominating the landscape, but by moving harmoniously within it.
The gentle ripples it creates remind us that even the smallest actions leave traces, connecting us to something larger than ourselves. In a world that often feels overwhelming, true belonging does not require grand gestures or fixed destinations. It exists in these fleeting moments of presence and forward motion—when we accept our smallness and still choose to move with purpose through the beauty that surrounds us."
Timur Kamarayev
Location: Kozybayev University, Kazakhstan
"I took this photo during a theatrical performance of A Cruel Lesson. In this play, a professor’s student tries to force an innocent woman to memorize a Shakespeare verse. Every mistake prompts him to press a red button, shocking her, and the stage lights turn red as the experiment grows more tense.
I captured the moment he presses the button, when the scene reaches its breaking point. For me, this photograph raises questions about how far people are willing to go to fit into systems of success, authority, and approval.
The student becomes focused on achieving the goal at any cost and forgets the person in front of him. A Cruel Lesson suggests that cruelty can exist in anyone; the real question is whether we can control it or not. Through theater, the actors and audience become part of this uncomfortable truth."
