Bronx Junior Photo League
12
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
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.
© BDC
“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