For a teenager, the experience of leaving the land of your childhood and moving to New York City can feel profoundly dislocating. Through a pair of intensive three-week photography courses in Summer 2022 at the International High School at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, one of a network of NYC public schools serving newcomers to the U.S., the Josephine Herrick Project worked with teaching artists Sasha Bush and Sarai Garcia to use photography as a tool to communicate in a room of different languages and cultures.

Students experimented with traditional genres of documentary and editorial photography, as well as with portraits and landscapes. They challenged themselves by experimenting with numerous roles, including photographer, model, photo assistant, camera technician, set designer, and photo editor. Learning the craft with classmates and using photography as a language, the students were able to see and share what they could produce by working together.

These images express their personal experiences, speaking about their journeys, friendships, education, and their strong sense of their school community.

Artists: Ana M., Emily N., Fabian A., Gabriel A., Ingrid T., Jair M., Jeronimo B., Jose G., Juanita C., Karen P., Leminton C., Lia J., Manuel E., Melany Q., Migdalia R., Novania A., Ricardo P., Ruth A., Selena T., Tomas M. and Vidhi P.