When Tim Jaeger, Director and Chief Curator of Ringling College Galleries, announced that Nothing New: Archives of Affection would travel to New York City, a group of students seized the chance to be part of history.
The exhibition, which features over 200 historical tintype photographs from the Peter Enrico and Terry Stache Photo Collection, opened at the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (SNMVC) in June 2026. It marks both Ringling College’s first-ever traveling exhibition and the latest collaboration between the College and the SNMVC, an organization dedicated to preserving LGBTQ+ history at one of the most significant sites in the American civil rights movement.
The five-student team came together through Ringling College’s Exhibition Design and Management course. Jack Coleman ’26, Business of Art and Design, served as Project Manager, Lilli Jones ’26, Business of Art and Design, as Marketing Director, Bella Thompson ’26, Graphic Design, as Graphic Lead, Amalie Knight-Sheen ’28, Visual Studies, as Assistant Curator, and Lindelwa Ntshakala ’28, Visual Studies, as Curatorial Director.
The team faced an immediate challenge: they had never set foot in the space they were designing for.
“Curating for a space we had never visited presented unique challenges,” said Ntshakala. “But together we worked through them.”
Their first major task was to review all 400-plus tintypes in the collection and select the 215 images that best fit the exhibition’s themes. Tintypes, direct-positive images captured on thin, dark-enameled metal sheets, are small, intimate photographs that offer rare glimpses into the lives of people whose stories have often been left out of the historical record.
When the team arrived at the Visitor Center in Greenwich Village, they were welcomed with breakfast and a tour of the space before getting straight to work. Over two days, they measured walls, installed vinyl graphics, and carefully mounted each tintype.
“To have an exhibition displayed at a national monument is something you cannot get anywhere else,” Knight-Sheen said of the experience. “It was surreal.”
The visit also included a stop at Local Projects, the New York-based experiential design studio that consulted on the exhibition, giving students a look inside the professional world of museum and exhibition design.
For Ntshakala, the experience reinforced something larger than the work itself.
“We all have the power to make a positive impact in our communities and beyond, no matter how large or small our contribution may seem,” she said. “This exhibition embodies that belief.”
Ann Marie Gothard, co-founder of the SNMVC, echoed the sentiment. The partnership, she said, offers students “new ways to explore LGBTQ+ history through curation, design, and storytelling” while equipping them with real-world skills to connect history to present-day questions of equality and justice.
Nothing New: Archives of Affection will remain on view at the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, located at 51 Christopher Street in New York City, through May 2027. Admission is free. For hours and visitor information, visit stonewallvisitorcenter.org.
The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center is independently owned and operated by Pride Live and is 100% donation-supported.
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