“You capture something that maybe nobody else saw. I like that,” Roldena Sanipass said about being a photographer. Her father introduced photography to her. She then experimented with it and took it up herself. Roldena decided to go back to school in her 40s to get her fine arts degree. She hopes that her education will help validate her photography.
Roldena is currently a senior art student here at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. She lives here not only to be close to school but to be close with her family. “We’re a very close-knit family,” she says. Her family is Micmac, with her father being a chief when he was alive. Her parents made baskets. Her mother has been making them since she was in her 20s and still makes them today at 80. Roldena and her siblings carry on the tradition by making baskets as well, though they enjoy experimenting with more modern ideas.
She chose UMPI because it was close to home and she was still raising children when she decided to go to school. She has three daughters and one son, the youngest 17 and the oldest 28. She appreciates that since the campus is small students are able to build close relationships with professors as well as one another. She remembers the cardboard boat race at UMPI and what a memorable experience it was for her. But she says that the best experience that she has here is being able to see everyone else’s artwork and being able to be among the creators.
“If there’s anything I’m going to do good it’s photography,” Roldena says. She likes to blend her two different cultures together: to take her culture from the past and blend it with her culture now. She enjoys the contrast of it, like black on white, though she understands that that may not be how the people who view her photographs see it. She says that they’ll see what they want to and that’s what it’s all about. She also enjoys photographing landscapes and has begun photographing people more. She wanted to begin photographing people more after she took a picture of her mother that she loved. Roldena’s boyfriend George LaFrance, who’s viewed much of Roldena’s work while they’ve been together, said, “She’s got potential if she keeps at it to be an excellent photographer.”
Art is a passion for her, photography especially. She says the reason she went back to school as an art student is the “Same reason why I live in Aroostook County, same reason why I deal with the weather. Love… certain things you go through for love.” Her family and friends are huge supporters of her and she wouldn’t know what to do without them.
The best advice Roldena ever received was to not give up, and she gives that advice to everyone else as well. “Don’t give up on your dream, passion or yourself.” She hopes to do something with photography after she graduates from UMPI. She’s done a lot of different kinds of work involving photography, so she’s very open to different career paths. “If someone wants me to take pictures of dump trucks all day I’ll do it, as long as it’s work. And I’ll make that dump truck look good.” Roldena wants people to see that she’s serious about her work. “That they’ll look at me and say ‘you’re a photographer.’”
We wish this photographer luck on her future after UMPI. Her senior show will be on display from April 29-May 4 in the Pullen Gallery with the reception on April 29 at 6 p.m.
