Lauren Valle Receives Julia Harper Day Award for Documentary Studies

Duke senior Lauren Valle is the winner of the 2025 Julia Harper Day Award for Documentary Studies. The Biology major, who will graduate with a Certificate in Documentary Studies, will receive a prize of $500.

The Julia Harper Day Award was created by the Duke Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) in 1992 in memory of the young woman who was our first staff member — a writer and photographer of real accomplishment. The annual award recognizes seniors who have demonstrated excellence in documentary studies and meaningfully contributed to the CDS community.

Valle initially arrived at Duke on a STEM track and states that she was uncertain that she had a place in the arts. But after enrolling in her first course at CDS, she found photography to be a powerful tool of critical engagement with the world — one that allowed her to explore questions of identity, culture and belonging. Lauren has excelled in a wide range of documentary studies and photography courses, including “Introduction to Black and White Photography,” “The View Camera: Black and White Large Format Photography,” “Photo Workshop,” “Color Photography: Fieldwork and Digital Color” and “Traditions in Documentary Studies,” each of which helped her refine a personal visual language rooted in storytelling, memory and representation. 

“Lauren’s photography practice exhibits not just her technical mastery, but her profound impulse to grapple with the politics of visibility and representation.” 

“Lauren has approached every class, assignment and artistic challenge with deep curiosity, care and conviction,” says CDS Director Chris Sims, who taught the capstone seminar this spring and supervised Valle’s capstone project. “Lauren’s photography practice exhibits not just her technical mastery, but her profound impulse to grapple with the politics of visibility and representation.” 

Valle’s capstone project, “Unseen Histories: Latinidad in Focus,” is the culmination of a documentary education that has spanned film, digital photography, cyanotypes, and videography during her time at CDS. “Unseen Histories,” which is currently on display in the Juanita Kreps Gallery at CDS, consists of large-format black-and-white portraits and personal narratives of 10 student activists, whose “labor, leadership and devotion” have shaped the Latine student experience at Duke. 

In her artist statement, Valle writes: “‘Unseen Histories’ is an extension of my commitment to documentation, using photography to preserve collective memory in spaces of cultural organizing and activism on campus. Because minority histories are often overlooked, it becomes essential to actively document and preserve them.” 

 “‘Unseen Histories’ is an extension of my commitment to documentation, using photography to preserve collective memory in spaces of cultural organizing and activism on campus.” 

Beyond image-making, Valle has distinguished herself through her work in curatorial research and arts leadership at Duke. As an exhibition research assistant in the Hart Leadership Program, she helped curate an upcoming show commemorating Duke’s centennial. She is also the founder of “Hyphen Latinx,” a student-led publication that amplifies diverse voices through digital curation and design; a member of Mariachi Toro, Duke’s student-run mariachi band; and a Cohort Member of Arts Studio, a competitive 12-month mentorship program through Duke Arts. 

After graduation, Valle will begin a position in local government with a public health department while continuing to expand her documentary practice and photographic portfolio. 

Read more about Valle and other students receiving a Certificate in Documentary Studies here: Five New Visions in Documentary Art.