Jessica Leza has been a student of photography for nearly three decades, learning first from her mother how to shoot black and white film on an old manual Pentax, then to develop the prints in an improvised darkroom set up on top of the clothes washer and dryer.
Her photography has been published by UNICEF (2007), given the people’s choice award for the Prix de la Photographie Paris (2007), and has been featured in art galleries and art shows around the world, including Festival Miden (Kalamata, Greece), the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Ventura Artist’s Union Gallery (San Buenaventura, CA), Art House (Decatur, GA), and Houston’s M2 Gallery and Gallery 19.
The Earwitness
This experimental portrait photography series is based on the book of character sketches Earwitness (50 Characters) by Elias Canetti. These portraits are projected during performances of live, original solo instrumental music by Dr. Joseph Klein, created with the support of the University of North Texas. See photos here.
“Dianna” for UNICEF
Lijiang Village, GuangXi province, People’s Republic of China (2003)
Published in the UNICEF State of the World’s Children Report (2007)
