Come to Your Census: First Exposures

First Exposures

First Exposures offers San Francisco Bay Area youth ages 11–18 opportunities to engage with photography classes by professional photographers who serve as both mentors and role models. Photography provides the catalyst for students to acquire life skills as well as meaningful intellectual, academic, and developmental experiences.

Students at First Exposures use their cameras as a means to explore and interpret their lives and surroundings. Their work highlights impactful moments of everyday life in the Bay Area while providing a space for cultivating each student’s sense of identity and personal agency.

Kieffer Chn, BW Street, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. 23 1/2 × 16 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Camilla Martinez, Melanie & Katherine, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. 8 × 10 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Jacob Fernandez, Shadow, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. 8 × 10 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Frida Calvo Huerta, Youth are the beacon of hope, 2019. Silver gelatin print. 8 × 10 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Leilah Marie Dixon, Untitled, 2019-2020. Archival inkjet print. 11 × 14 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Delilah Ponton, My Boy Raymond, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. Courtesy First Exposures.

Raymond Denman, Untitled, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. 8 × 10 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Frida Calvo Huerta, Blessed are thou amongst women, 2019. Silver gelatin print. 8 × 10 in. Courtesy First Exposures

Raymond Denman, City, 2020. Silver gelatin print. Courtesy First Exposures.

Michael Flores-Jimenez, Lucha, 2020. Silver gelatin print., 8 × 10 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Graham Thomas Murray, Sunset, 2019-2020. Archival inkjet print. 23 1/2 × 16 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Luis Guevara, Untitled, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. 11 × 14 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Axel Bautista, Loca, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. 8 × 10 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Brennan Chan, Untitled, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. 8 × 10 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

Gisella Chan, Untitled, 2019-2020. Silver gelatin print. 8 1/2 × 11 in. Courtesy First Exposures.

These works by First Exposures are part of Come to Your Census: Who Counts in America?, an art and civic experience intended to drive awareness and mobilize the diverse communities of the Bay Area around the urgent, long-term impact of the 2020 US Census.

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