In the Brooklyn Museum’s “Brooklyn Artist’s Exhibition” nestled among the work of over 200 local artists lies a piece of our very own Fordham community. Taken by Fordham Law student and self-taught photographer France François, Fordham Law School ’25, the inkjet print titled “Free Senegal” tells viewers a story of joy, rebellion and youth.
François said that she took the photograph while visiting Senegal in 2023, during which protests erupted following the arrest of Ousmane Sonko, the head of Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics, and Fraternity. Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison for “corrupting the youth,” a conviction that greatly damaged his chances of securing the upcoming presidential election. As a result, protests consisting mainly of Senegalese youth broke out and were met with violence from authorities. However, despite the brutality that marred these protests, François’ photo tells a different story.
“Free Senegal” depicts several young boys running into the ocean to rinse off tear gas from the protests, and François said that a spontaneous soccer game began shortly thereafter. Despite the excess of despair and fear brought about by the conflict, François captured a moment of bliss, reminding onlookers that the pain and struggles of these young people do not define them. She insisted that this was more impactful than yet another photo of young people “at their worst” because it captured the subject’s joy in the face of corruption.
“I picked up photography in a way to rehumanize us, recenter our stories, and make the people the center of it rather than the photographer or the publication itself,” France François, Fordham Law School ’25
Inspired by the work of James Van Der Zee and Peter Mugabane, François’ documentary style photography is also heavily influenced by her time working in humanitarian aid, during which she realized that people in post-conflict countries often “had a very, very tense relationship with journalists and photographers.” She said that this response is often due to the lack of control these subjects have over the use of their images, and being from Haiti, François understands this on a personal level.
When Googling her home country, François insisted that the most prevalent results are often images depicting death and disaster, which subsequently characterize Haiti as a very “dark, chaotic place,” and fail to capture the reality of Haitian’s “day-to-day lives and experiences.” François said that incomplete portrayals such as this are what inspired her to pursue photography in the first place.
“I picked up photography in a way to rehumanize us, recenter our stories, and make the people the center of it rather than the photographer or the publication itself,” François said. This desire has also led to a specific “focus on photographing people of color who typically don’t have an opportunity to tell their own stories.”
François eventually began to look for other opportunities to “make an impact,” a search that led to a profession in tech.
Being born in Haiti has strongly influenced not only François’ photography but also her sense of ethics, and she said that the nation has played a major role in crafting her identity. François referred to her birthplace as “the center of my universe, my identity, my community, my culture,” and said that Haiti’s “rich history inspired (her) love for the arts and justice,” two passions that become increasingly clear when looking at her photography.
While François was born in Haiti, she also spent a considerable amount of time attending school in the U.S., and as a result, she considers Miami to be home as well.
“Miami has also colored the way that I see and interact with the world, the things that I love, things that I aspire to be, and it’s prepared me, I think, for a multi-racial world,” François said.
After studying political science in undergrad at Florida State University, François pursued a master’s degree in international development while attending American University. This led to a 10-year career in humanitarian aid, where she provided services in post-disaster and post-conflict countries such as Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, and Cairo, Egypt during The Arab Spring. Shortly after graduating, François got a job at the Inter-American Development Bank and officially began her humanitarian work. While this proved rewarding for a decade, it was also admittedly “both emotionally and physically exhausting,” and François eventually began to look for other opportunities to “make an impact,” a search that led to a profession in tech.
During her career in Big Tech, François attended the University of London for a Bachelor of Laws while working with TikTok as a Director of Global Community Management, where she focused specifically on regulatory challenges and “issues that impacted marginalized communities.” François said she is interested “in how policies and technology impact people.”
At TikTok, François characterized her work as “a driving force in making sure that we were aware about both the off and online impacts of our work.”
François also expressed interest in the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), displaying a particular enthusiasm in “making sure that creators can protect their creations.”
As a result of this passion, she said she hopes “to move the needle forward on creation with AI in a way that still allows artists, the people behind the art, to profit and to grow.”
While working with TikTok during the advent of AI software, François also noticed that many social issues affecting marginalized groups were being “recreated with AI,” and she eventually came to the conclusion that “tech alone wasn’t the solution,” a realization that led her to practice law.
“A really good photograph can have a very instant impact in a way that a legal case might not.” France François, Fordham Law School ’25
Although she no longer works in humanitarian aid or Big Tech, François gained much from her time in both fields. She said that one of the most valuable things she gained from these experiences was that “there are people who have opportunities and people who don’t,” and “your role as a person in a position of privilege is to foster more opportunities for people.”
François also recognizes that communities and lives do not need to be disrupted to provide aid, a sentiment that is clearly reflected within her photography.
Although François loves the law and the impact she is able to have by working in it, she also acknowledges that it can be a career that requires patience.
“A really good photograph can have a very instant impact in a way that a legal case might not,” François said.
Despite this, François finds both challenge and opportunity in the balancing act that is participating in both of these worlds.
In an email François said, “As a photographer, every image I capture reflects my commitment to ethics,” and this statement perfectly encapsulates the very thing that makes her such a talented artist and lawyer.
Her dedication to do the right thing, to tell the stories of those who are so often misrepresented is aspirational, and through her work she represents not only her values but those of Fordham as well.
François’ photo will be up throughout the remainder of “The Brooklyn Artist’s Exhibition,” which ends on Jan. 25, 2025.