Public radio from Western Michigan University 102.1 NPR News | 89.9 Classical WMUK
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
A weekly look at creativity, arts, and culture in southwest Michigan, hosted by Zinta Aistars.Fridays in Morning Edition at 7:50am and at 4:20pm during All Things Considered.

Art Beat: All about the light

Fran Dwight at the 2017 public opening of the Edison Inside Out project.
Fran Dwight
/
Fran Dwight
Fran Dwight at the 2017 public opening of the Edison Inside Out project.

You almost don’t see her. She’s the woman behind the camera. Fran Dwight has been taking photos since her teens, and today her name appears in photo credits in all kinds of publications as well as in the photo albums of people who hire her to record their special occasions. She’s a resident of Kalamazoo’s Edison Neighborhood, and one of her best-known photography projects is a building wall there covered with photos of neighbors taken over a four-month span of time. Admittedly an introvert, Dwight says that seeing the world through her camera’s lens opens her eyes but is also something of a protective shield.

A conversation with Fran Dwight

“Viewing the world ‘out loud’ was very difficult for me as an introvert,” Dwight says. “I think I hid behind that camera, to be honest. I started doing photography when I was very young and awkward. It just gave me a little wall between me and the world. It gives me something to do with my body and my hands. I think I might be a little anxious in the world, and photography just calms me down. It gives me a focus; it takes the edge off everything for me.”

One young Edison resident visits her spot in the Inside Out project.
Fran Dwight
/
Fran Dwight
One young Edison resident visits her spot in the Inside Out project.

While Dwight feels that everything can be transformed into a good photograph, she looks for the “right” light to give it that magic touch.

Dwight says she wanted to be a painter as a child but felt she lacked a gift for it. That’s when photography stepped in.

“So, I paint with my camera,” she says, laughing.

Dwight is widely known in southwest Michigan for her work, whether it’s commercial or personal. She photographs real estate properties, does portraits, documents weddings and other events—but only those that she feels are more personal. Favorite projects include the Inside Out project in the Edison neighborhood, where she photographed many neighborhood residents and had their portraits transposed onto building walls as part of a global participatory art project. More than 129 countries have participated by exhibiting such community portraits.

“That project in Edison was pretty magical,” Dwight says. “With that particular project, we went about our days not noticing our neighbors, and suddenly photography put all our neighbors together. It made people stop, it made people think, it made people point to the ones they knew, it engaged people.”

Listen to WMUK's Art Beat every Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.

Zinta Aistars is our resident book expert. She started interviewing authors and artists for our Arts & More program in 2011.
Related Content