Young Artist Has Global Impact
Torrance, CA (September 25, 2013): Bishop Montgomery High School is home to many outstanding and talented students who, each day, are in search of their Magnum Opus. They are on a journey, both on campus and off, to discover what it is they are called to do; they strive to be the very best people that they can be each and every day. Senior Angela Francis ’14, a gifted photographer, is one student who is clear about the path she wants to take.
Torrance, CA (September 25, 2013): Bishop Montgomery High School is home to many outstanding and talented students who, each day, are in search of their Magnum Opus. They are on a journey, both on campus and off, to discover what it is they are called to do; they strive to be the very best people that they can be each and every day. Senior Angela Francis ’14, a gifted photographer, is one student who is clear about the path she wants to take.
Francis is a multi-talented young woman who is just as comfortable on the track or in the classroom as she is behind the lens of the camera that travels with her wherever she goes. Since her freshman year, she has been involved in Venice Arts, a mentoring program between students and artists. Part of the mission of Venice Arts is “to ignite youths’ imagination, mentor their creativity, and expand their sense of possibility through high quality, accessible media–based arts education programs.” After one conversation with the energetic and charismatic Francis, it is clear that her possibilities are endless.
Francis recently had a few of her photographs published on the New York Times website for a piece titled “My Hometown.” For this project, high school students were asked to help create a 21st century portrait of the United States by turning the camera on their neighborhoods, families, friends, and schools. Francis’ work was chosen after she was encouraged by her mentor at Venice Arts, lead photographer Issa Sharp, to enter a contest.
In June, Francis was one of two of Venice Arts’ advanced students to be invited to Washington, D.C. for the Kennedy Center Youth Media Summit, a collaboration of young artists from around the United States. At the summit, Francis made media that was featured at the Kennedy Center, presented at a Youth Media Conference, met with Congressional aides, and attended Kennedy Center events. With a focus on TransMedia Storytelling, the national summit’s aim was to help youth develop storytelling and performance skills, while also thinking about media use in their own work.
Earlier this month, Francis’ work went “global” when her photography was featured in Venice Arts’ Twin Cities: Dialogue Between Hong Kong & Los Angeles. This exhibit showcases a year-long photographic and writing collaboration between Venice Arts’ students and students in Hong Kong through Venice Arts’ consultancy with the Robert H.N. Ho Foundation. The exhibition, which will run through October 5 at Venice Arts’ studio, features work from aspiring photographers who participated in the artistic cultural exchange project. Including portraits both of family members and the world around them, the photographs taken by Francis and her peer in Hong Kong, Wong Man Wa, document the lives of teenagers growing into adulthood and the commonalities present between two cultures, despite their geographic separation.
For Francis, who plans on attending either Howard University or Boston University, this is all just the beginning of a career that is sure to take off. “I love telling stories through photography,” she explained. “I want to be a photojournalist and do transmedia story-telling.”
For more information about Venice Arts and to see Francis’ work, click on the links below.