Professor Lampton closes out the 2024 Scholar Series

By Maddi Achtyl

The MacPháidin Library wrapped up its 2024 Scholar Series with a presentation by Professor Adam Lampton. The Scholar Series, sponsored by the MacPháidin Library, serves as a forum for Stonehill faculty to present their recent work to the community.  

Lampton is an Associate Professor of Visual and Performing Arts and the department chair. He is also a practicing photographer whose work has been featured in publications such as Art In America, Maisonneuve Magazine, and Polar Inertia Journal. Lampton has also won several awards. 

Photo Credit: Maddi Achtyl

Lampton discussed his experience photographing the former Portuguese colony of Macau, which is now a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. He witnessed its transformation from a small enclave into an international gambling mecca and leisure destination.  

For 10 months, he photographed Macau’s change as it went from being under Portuguese control to the People’s Republic of China in 1999. Until 1999, Macau’s casinos were monopolized by Hong Kong businessman Stanley Ho but were now open to foreign investment. 

Since then, Macau has been trying to make a name for itself not only as the gaming and leisure destination for China but for all of Asia. Lampton showed this development through his photographs.  

He returned two more times to capture the developments Macau has been making, once in 2015 and again in 2019. 

He compiled all his work from his time in Macau into a publication titled Nothing Serious Can Happen Here: Photographs from Macau. The publication will be released in the United States on April 1, 2025, and is available now in Europe.