BIANCA FARROW The Mind Behind the Bronx Junior Photo League

BY PAMELA Y. ROZON

Bianca Farrow worked for the BDC between 2013 and 2021 where she organized the Bronx Junior Photo League, an internationallyrenowned documentary photography, video, and college success program for middle and high school students.

Bianca Farrow, 32, spent most of her childhood on a small ranch in Northern California, 10 minutes away from the nearest town. Playing with the family horses, chickens, and cats, Bianca watched as her family’s grape vines bore fruit. The family sold the grapes to nearby wineries. She remembers watching a wild cat with a small litter of kittens who stayed under the deck of her house. Bianca would put a bowl of milk down and lay there for hours, waiting for one of the kittens to peer their little heads out. This was life on the ranch: long peaceful days filled with wonder about the world around her.

Finding ways to keep busy, she was given an old camera and spent her days capturing the life around her. She snapped shots of the cats she tamed, dressing them up in dog clothes. She enjoyed learning about people, their lives, and their interests but there weren’t many chances to meet new faces. Eager to explore outside of her surroundings, she left for New York City at 18 years old to attend New York University (NYU).

Upon arriving at “the city that never sleeps,” the streets never ceased filtering people, each with a story to capture. The current of the bustling life that surrounded her, made her feel like a stone in a running river, but she would eventually find her place with the artists around her.

“It wasn’t so hard to adjust to being in a city, it was more just the social anxiety of being in a completely new situation with no one I knew,” said Bianca.

She studied at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study with a focus on documentary photography and the sociology of violence, which allowed her creativity to unleash itself. Bianca took a class on the education of photography during her junior year where she learned how to make lesson plans and engage students. Prompting her to discover a passion for teaching as she loved to support others, assisting in the brainstorming and sequencing of her peer’s work.

“As much as I love to take photos, I enjoyed helping produce other people’s stories,” said Bianca.

Bianca has been following the development of the Bronx Documentary Center, known as the BDC, since its founding in 2011. She decided to volunteer, curious about how to find community in non-profit organizations. In 2013, after a year of her volunteering, founder of the BDC Micheal Kamber invited her to manage an educational program dedicated to teaching kids documentary photography. Bianca became his assistant that summer and was later promoted to the Educational Program Coordinator. There she helped build what is now known as the Bronx Junior Photo League (BJPL).

“As we became more invested and every step of the process, that’s when more things became challenging,” said Bianca, “because you want to support the whole of a person, but you can’t do everything.”

In 2016, she decided to build a community within the BDC. She added a college counselor, hired teachers, and started implementing new classes and programs for the students who were joining the BJPL. She reveled in the success of her students and was overcome with a deep sense of pride for them. However, the program needed proper attention behind the scenes, so she switched her focus from teaching to begin working on organizing and directing the program.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

During the first BJPL presentation in 2014, community members and families came to view the images captured by the students. Smiles, laughter, and the overwhelming feeling of love filled the gallery. She remembers going out with each of the students and delivering flowers to people they have photographed. A gesture that proved to strengthen the bond between the community and the BDC.

“If the BDC didn’t interact with the people and places around it, it wouldn’t be the BDC,” said Bianca.

After a while, she started to feel something was missing. She wanted to branch out, feeling tied down to the very program she helped create. Her work life became almost impossible to separate from her personal life. Though she gave an unusual eight-year notice of her departure, as the years passed by, her anxiety only worsened. Would the BDC be okay without her? Would she be okay without the BDC?

In the fall of 2011, Bianca stepped away. She was in a state of limbo: It would take two months of rest before she got the courage necessary to do whatever came next. The BDC was an integral part of her life, she grew up with it, and now she had to learn to grow without it.

“I think I needed to leave in order for the program to grow because I was really tired and it needed someone with new eyes and new ideas to come in,” said Bianca.

Her experience at the BDC has encouraged her new life as a full-time student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Currently, Bianca is pursuing an education in the arts, and while she is excited about what her career has to offer after graduation, she takes life one day at a time almost as if she were back on the ranch.

IG: @biancafarrow