RICHARDSON, Texas (July 29, 2004 ) — The School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) will host Gaza Zoo, an exhibition of 150 digital prints by photographer and multimedia artist Laray Polk, in the main gallery of the Visual Arts Building, from Aug. 19 to Sept. 25.

An opening reception will be held Friday, Aug. 27, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Gaza Zoo is an adaptation of a recently completed book of the same title. An original work of art and scholarship, Gaza Zoo draws from major thinkers of our time in the fields of linguistics, communication theory and political scholarship, including Marshall McLuhan, Noam Chomsky and Edward Said.

According to Polk, the exhibition is “based on the politics of domination inherent in a phonetic alphabet and Western forms of communication and acculturation, becoming a rapidly moving analogue system that challenges viewers as passive recipients of sensate image and cerebrational readers of text.”

Polk, a resident of Dallas, is a former faculty member at UTD and North Lake College and is a scholar of linguistic systems, communication theories and anthropology.

Gallery hours are from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. The gallery is closed Sundays and university holidays.

For information about the many musical, arts, theatre, dance and other performances and exhibitions held throughout the year at UTD, please call 972-UTD-ARTS (972-883-2787), e-mail utdarts@utdallas.edu, or visit the School of Arts and Humanities’ Web site at http://ah.utdallas.edu/. Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations may call 972-883-2982, Texas Relay Operator: 1-800-RELAYVV.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls about 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.