WHERE THE LIGHT TRAVELS: Portraits of San Diego Refugee Students

A collection of collaborative portraiture and audio interviews.

Outside The Lens presents 'Where The Light Travels: Portraits of San Diego Refugee Students' - a collection of collaborative portraiture and audio interviews. Each individual in this exhibition is the face of a wider story - the story of their journey, family, resilience, and joy.

The medium of large format was more commonly used during a time when photography was less accessible and less democratic. An aim of this project was to subvert that context and use this format to photograph an often overlooked and marginalized community. The time and care needed for each shot on a large format camera, with its intricate and antiquated handling, is a way to honor these incredible young people and help to bring attention to themselves and their stories.

In partnership with the San Diego Refugee Tutoring program.

All images shot on a 4x5 large format film camera by Outside the Lens Teaching Artist and Photographer Jana McBeath.

About Outside the Lens: The mission of Outside the Lens is to empower youth to use digital media to create change within themselves, their community and their world.

About San Diego Refugee Tutoring Program: San Diego Refugee Tutoring program is an organization whose mission is to achieve social justice through educational access for refugee students in eastern City Heights.

About the Artist: Jana McBeath is a Photographer and Teaching Artist based in San Diego. Originally from England, she received her BA (Hons) and MA from Manchester School of Art. She is driven by her fascination with the world and her work explores boundaries, change and the transition of things, places and states of being. Her passion is analogue photography and her work spans from the abstract through to documentary portraiture.