Cameron Najafi
![Cameron Najafi Cameron Najafi](https://www.exeter.edu/sites/default/files/styles/standard_inline_image_730_x_auto/public/news/EP-Najafi-3.jpg?itok=AqmIfVQB)
“At Exeter, I’ve been able to develop ideas with others, and that’s been a great experience.”
Sound Theories
Deep diving on subjects he is passionate about is Cameron Najafi’s thing, and one of many reasons he is grateful to be at Exeter. A senior from Phoenix, Arizona, Najafi is an avid proponent of environmentalism and sustainability, which he has pursued as a member of the Academy’s Climate Action Day Planning Committee, as an Environmental Proctor and, perhaps most significantly, through a senior project with his mentor, Adjunct Music Instructor Jon Sakata.
“Dr. Sakata and I met in the late fall of my upper year,” Najafi recalls. “We share a strong interest in architecture and sustainable design, and started exchanging long, philosophical emails on those topics. He introduced me to the concept of two states of mind: the ‘territorialized’ mind, which is our everyday mindset that is grounded in reality and holds to social rules, and the ‘deterritorialized’ mind, which escapes social rules and critiques and is the domain of artists, writers and philosophers. Because Dr. Sakata is an artist, he has offered me that lens for seeing the world. I’ve grown a huge appreciation for literature and art as a result.”
That appreciation, in turn, has given birth to the concept for Najafi’s senior project. Working closely with Sakata, he is exploring how art, psychology and sociology are embedded in architecture and, in particular, how sound impacts built environments and the human experience. If all goes according to schedule, Najafi will soon present plans for an art installation in the Lamont Quad, the green space in front of the Lamont Health & Wellness Center and in back of Phelps Science Center. Because each of those facilities has generators proximately situated, the site is known for its ambient noise, which Najafi, in his installation, may or may not exploit. “This quad is an interesting focal point, a confluence of music, science, health and nature, and there isn’t a space quite like it anywhere else on campus. Through my installation, I hope to play with and emphasize these intersections.”