PhotoSynthesis XIV is a collaboration of the Burlington High School and Winchester High School facilitated by the Griffin Museum of Photography.

By creating photographic portraits of themselves and their surroundings, students from Burlington High School and Winchester High School have been exploring their sense of self and place in a unique collaborative program at the Griffin Museum.

In its fourteenth year, the 5-month program connects approximately 20 students – from each school – with each other and with professional photographers. The goal is to increase students’ awareness of the art of photography, as well as how being from different programs and different schools affects their approach to the same project.

The students were given the task of creating a body of work that communicates a sense of self and place.  They were encouraged to explore the importance of props, the environment, facial expression, metaphor, and body language in portrait photography.

Students met with Tara Sellios, a Boston artist who received her BFA in photography with a minor in art history from the Art Institute of Boston in 2010. Recent solo exhibitions include Sinuous at C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, Testimony at Blue Sky Gallery, Portland and Luxuria at Gallery Kayafas, Boston. She is a Massachusetts Cultural Council fellowship recipient and was named an emerging photographer to watch by Art New England magazine. Tara is represented by Gallery Kayafas and currently lives and works in South Boston.

Asia Kepka met with students in February and discussed her photography journey especially her project “Horace and Agnes”. Kepka studied set design in Lodz, Poland. A graduate of New England School of Photography in Waltham, MA, she has worked for such publications as Wired, Fortune, Time, The New York Times Magazine, and many more. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe.

Alison Nordstrom, the former curator of the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y., and photographer Sam Sweezy gathered with students for a one-on-one discussion of their work and a final edit was created for the exhibition at the museum.

“In collaboration and through creative discourse these students have grown,” said Paula Tognarelli, executive director of the Griffin Museum. “We are very pleased to be able to share this year’s students’ work. We thank the mentors and teachers for providing a very meaningful experience for the students. We also want to thank the Griffin Foundation and the John and Mary Murphy Educational Foundation, whose continued commitment to this project made learning possible. To paraphrase Elliot Eisner, the arts enabled these students to have an experience that they could have from no other source.’’