Tania Franco Klein: Vivid and Dramatic Photographs of Self-Exploration

Documentary and Fashion Photography by Tania Franco Klein

We all know that today’s neoliberal society and hyper-consumerism cause many problems for human beings. People sometimes are not even aware of the problems. Anxiety, desperation, vanishing are common states of Western society, and sometimes there is nothing we can do about it, except trying to fit in.  Sociologists, philosophers, and anthropologists point out on this circumstance. The contemporary art scene also finds ways of making these problems visible and gives possible answers about how to deal with it.

Tania Franco Klein is a young documentary and fashion photographer, interested in social and philosophical questions about the modern Western world. Her work highlights important questions about society, self-exploration, and self-expression.

Tania Franco exhibits around the world. Her work was published by The British Journal of Photography,  I-D Magazine, The Guardian, Paris Review and others. The Lensculture Exposure Awards awarded her in 2019.

Socially Engaged Art –  from Fashion Editorials to the Personal Projects

Tania Franco Klein is a socially engaged Mexican photographer born in 1990. She obtained a bachelor degree in Architecture in Mexico City. After graduation, she moved to London and enrolled at the University of the Arts (London). Although she studied fashion photography, Tania’s work ranges from fashion editorials to the personal projects connected with social and philosophical topics. Tania’s work is influenced by her education, personal interests about society, and the family background.

Both her mother and brother are philosophers, so Tania is familiar with contemporary philosophical approaches and recognition about individuals in today’s society. As the photographer once said:

So, photography became the way I started incorporating all of my interests into one.

During the first year of college, Tania took some of the photography classes. Even though she studied architecture, she loved the idea to express her thoughts by using a camera. But, love for architecture and photography exists together in her photos.  The pictures tell us how the young photographer plays with space and light using “photography as a medium to actually explore other parts of [my] interests in architecture.”

Tania’s first personal project, “Fun Fair“, made during her stay in London, documents people at fairs. She observed people who did different things, such as rollercoaster drive. In this way, Tania expressed her thoughts and emotions, creating recognizable photography. Colorful and dramatic light are the main elements of her aesthetics. Her work shows saturated scenes that evoke a mundane world.

Our Life In The Shadows

Tania’s latest project is called “Our Life in the Shadows“. The series of photos represent the idea of the American dream created by Western society. The photographer shows how those ideas apply in modern society and influence people’s inner life.

My characters find themselves almost anonymous, melting in places, vanishing into them, constantly looking for any possibility of escape.

Her photos narrate the contemporary position of the individuals and their problems. Isolation, anxiety, and desperation are some of the central states of today’s individuals.

The pictures mix two separate worlds, the world of reality and the world of fiction. “Our Life in the Shadows” will be published in the photographer photo book called “Positive Disintegration” in April 2019.