For the last 25 years, Frank Francis has had a consuming interest in photography. His work has its source in the remote reaches of the world, on extended trips to the mountains, deserts and rivers of Africa, India, the Middle East, the Himalayas, Mongolia and Myanmar. Traveling mostly alone, the goal has been to explore the places and people of those remote places and photograph that which is quickly passing.
Taken over the course of several journeys to remote locales seldom visited by outsiders, the photographs selected for this exhibit offer at once rare glimpses, yet stark portrayals of peoples untouched by the influences of modernization. Described by Francis as “sightings from a world on the other side of the window of time,” the photographs depict women residing in the mountain highland region of northern Ethiopia; Central Saharan Africans residing in Mauritania, Mali, and Niger; and cultural reflections from Assam, India, and Myanmar.
The connecting theme among the photographs is the telling of some part of the story of the people in places that Francis has encountered them in the remote world. There are two approaches: in those photographs which are close-up, Francis seeks to capture through facial features, light, expression and the environment in which they are photographed, some part of the essence or story of the subject being photographed. The second approach, where the subject is more distant and where other objects are in the photograph, he relies primarily on the totality of the picture and its color, form, and movement (if any) to tell the story.
Photographs by Frank Francis may be seen on his website: www.frankfrancisphoto.com.
Mountain Mists, Ethiopain Women, Southern Ethiopia
Elegant Solitary, Simien Mountains, Ethiopia, Africa
Wodaabe Charm, Wodaabe of Niger, Northern Niger, Africa
Strutting on the Steps of Her Mother, Among the Wodaabe People, Niger, Africa