WORKSHOP: Empowering Self and Family Through Image-Making

Saturday, Oct 18th & 25th, 12pm-3pm

$70  Non-Members
$60  VCP Members
(Register online below)

Join us for a two-day online workshop exploring photography as a tool for personal growth, reflection, and storytelling. Centered around self-portraiture and family imagery, this intimate workshop invites participants to explore their individual histories and emotional landscapes through staged photography. Drawing from therapeutic methodologies, like those developed by Rosy Martin and Jo Spence, this workshop blends the facilitator’s presentation of her process with group dialogue, practical creative prompts, and guided reflection.

Held across two consecutive weekends, each three-hour session will introduce therapeutic frameworks for image-making, encourage ethical approaches to working with family members and family archives, and support participants in developing meaningful portrait-based work. You don’t need any prior experience to join us! Just a digital or film camera and a willingness to engage. Whether you’re a practicing photographer or simply curious about how to use images for personal insight, this workshop offers a supportive space for creative experimentation.

Instructor: Francesca Hummler

Francesca Hummler is a German-American photographic artist, curator, and educator currently based between London and San Diego. Her practice explores identity, memory, and family through a photo-therapeutic lens, often combining self-portraiture with collaborative portrait-making. Drawing on her background as the daughter of German immigrants in the U.S., her work explores generational trauma, familial intimacy, and archives as sites of healing.

She holds an MA in Photography with distinction from the Royal College of Art, where she wrote her dissertation, American Identity and Photographic Healing. Since 2022, Francesca has been the Community Manager and Program Curator at Der Greif, where she curates events, publications, and symposia, including recent programming at Les Rencontres d’Arles and Paris Photo. Her work has been exhibited at Paris Photo, Sprengel Museum, and featured in Artforum. She has taught and led workshops at institutions like Photofusion (UK), Fachhochschule Dortmund (Germany), and Paperdrop Lab (Greece), with a strong focus on identity, care, and feminist practice.

Online Registration