The students who show up at San Francisco's Life Learning Academy aren't going to be their class valedictorians. They've struggled in traditional school settings, and by they time they arrive at LLA, they're in need of a fresh start.
"When I was younger, I witnessed things no kid should see," Demond, 18, said. "One day I was in court, and the judge called me a 'menace to society.' She told me I had two sides of me, and that it's up to me to decide what kind of guy I want to be."
Now, Demond has a chance to show the world what kind of guy he is through photography. Demond's work is part of a group exhibit called #WeHearYouSF, which showcases five teenagers from LLA and opens Friday at San Francisco's Haus of Hipstamatic.
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The show was born from a partnership between LLA, an arts initiative called the W.H.Y. Project, and the digital photography app Hipstamatic.
The teenagers — aged 15 to 18 — were sent out into their neighborhoods armed only with an iPod touch, the Hipstamatic app, and this prompt: "If you could tell the world anything, what would you say…"
The answers range from somber to silly, obscure to quotidian. But each image captures life as it's being lived in that moment.
"We were blown away by the topics the students decided to cover," Luanne Dietz, director of the W.H.Y. Project, said. "The stories are very personal."
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Below, selected images from each of the five students:
Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
