We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Frances Kenney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Frances below.
Frances, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project I have worked on is a body of work I call, “Win with the Stickers.” The title is a play on words from the phrase “stick with the winners.” It refers to recovery and the fact that a person is more likely to recover if they surround themselves with people who are actively working a program. “Stickers” refers to people who are committed to recovery and can help guide others through recovery. In 2020 when the covid-19 pandemic had just begun I was attending classes at Sacramento State. I was a photography major and we were asked to come up with a project to focus on for the remainder of the semester. All of my in person classes were transitioned to internet zoom classes. This was a very difficult time for me because I am in Recovery for substance abuse and the in person support meetings I attend had also moved to zoom. My home church closed it’s doors and began live streaming Sunday morning services. My parents and sister all have auto immune diseases so they were very careful to isolate themselves. My world had started to close in on me and I needed a way to cope with the fear of the unknown and the lonely feelings/isolation I was experiencing. I began the project, “Win with the Stickers” as a way to give hope to others in recovery and to feel connected to the world again. I started contacting people who are in recovery and asking them if I could make their portraits. The response I got was overwhelming.. I created a self published Blurb book with 46 portraits in it. The portraits show people in recovery holding up a white board with a quote relating to recovery that they feel very strongly about. The people all wrote their quotes in their own hand writing. The process of creating this body of work helped me to cope with the challenges of covid-19. I spent all of my free time traveling to the individuals houses to photograph them, having conversations about the pandemic and how it was affecting them. This project helped me to stay grounded. It helped me know that I wasn’t alone. It helped me realize that I wasn’t having a unique experience but instead I was having a shared human experience with the entire world.
Frances, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Franny and I’m a photographer from California’s Central Valley. I received my associate degree in photography from Modesto Junior College. I then went on to earn my bachelor’s degree in photography at California State University Sacramento.
I began my career in photography as a wedding photographer and I also worked at local events such as, centennials, car shows, balloon launches, carnivals, etc. I became a certified drone operator and I do independent work for a company called “Forward Web.” We specialize in website builds and I work as their media specialist in charge of photos and videos.
Because of my love for music I started reaching out to some of my favorite musicians to ask permission to photograph at their concerts. I love to photograph underground hip hop shows. I’ve been lucky enough to photograph some of my favorite artist such as, Atmosphere, Brother Ali and Prof.
I am currently working full time at Modesto Junior college as a lab tech in the photo dark room. One of my biggest passions in life is film photography. I love to use my Graflex 4×5 field camera and my Pentax 67 medium format camera to take black&white and color images. I print from the film negates to create silver gelatin prints in the dark room. I recently finished a body of work which I call, “Two Bedroom House.” It is a documentative work of my best friend and her children. I created this work over the course of a year and she allowed me in her home to create visually stunning images of her person life. These images have been installed in collaborative shows in both Sacramento and Modesto.
I plan on continuing to work in the photography industry and learn as much as I can. I love photography because the experiences and unique opportunities are endless.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
As a young person I made a lot of mistakes and choices that I’m not proud of. I became addicted to drugs at the age of 20 after my first son was born. I dropped out of college and didn’t return for 8 years. After many struggles I decided I wanted to make a change. I wanted to build a better life for my children. At the age of 28-years-old I got into recovery and I went back to school. It was hard because I had a very low opinion of myself. I thought that the years of drug use had made me stupid and that I was too old to be in college. I stayed focused and put everything I had into school. I surprised myself and earned good grades. I never dreamed of continuing my education and applying to undergraduate programs. When the time came to graduate Modesto Junior College I had some amazing teachers who encouraged me to apply to transfer. I not only applied but I also got accepted to both of the schools I had applied to! I was still unsure about how I was going to attend school and support my children. At that time in 2019 I was a single mom with three young boys. Where I live there’s a stigma associated with getting on government aid. I needed a way to continue my education to create a better future for my children. I knew in my heart that the programs were just a stepping stone to get my head above the water. I swallowed my pride and I took all of the help I could get. I applied for financial aid, I got on welfare, MediCal, food stamps, low income housing and subsidized childcare. I commuted 3 hours round trip, 4 days a week from Modesto to Sacramento to attend Sacramento State. I excelled in school and I graduated from Sacramento State magna cum laude. I could not have done this without the help of these programs. Now here I am 4 years later and I have a full time job with benefits. I have no college debt. I’m no longer on welfare, MediCal or food stamps. Within the next month I will be closing on the purchase of my first home with my soon to be husband. Once we move into the new home I will no longer be on low income housing and I will no longer be receiving subsidized child care. Another family will be able to move into my apartment and get the same opportunities that I was given. I am so grateful for my resilience throughout this process. It has made me who I am today. I appreciate all of the struggles and the hard times. The struggles have humbled me and this experience has given me a better perspective on life.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me is definitely the community. I get to work with and collaborate with some truly amazing people. I have never experienced such an uplifting and supportive community before I became a photographer. My core group of photo friends mean the world to me. I can trust that they will always give me their honest opinion or interpretation of my work. As image makers we need to be extremely careful of the message we are sending out into public spaces. Images are powerful tools. If there’s something in my work that can be misinterpreted I need to know before I show it to a broader audience. It’s extremely valuable to have friends that have had different experiences growing up. Friends that learned about specific symbolism that not everyone is aware of. Friends that see things that I may have missed due to my emotional connection to the work. Critique is invaluable when it comes to looking at art and deciding if it’s ready to be shared with the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/8998119/93d1b3844fff491039ec73811053982b15cc52c6
- Instagram: @franny_kenney
- Twitter: @franny97972341
Image Credits
Photographs by: Frances Kenney