Francesca Roccaforte

Artist Biography
Francesca Roccaforte, MS is a digital photographer currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. Francesca was born in Brooklyn, New York. She credits her father Frank, her mentor, for sparking her interest in photography at an early age. She formally studied photography at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan for four years. Influenced by both the industrial N.Y. urban landscape, its people, and the serene scenes of family visits to beautiful ocean and parks, she used the camera to focus on the beauty of the natural landscape and its diverse ethnic population. Ms. Roccaforte has earned both a Master’s degree and Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication in Education from California State University, East Bay. She also has an Associate degree in Multimedia Arts/Digital Imaging from Berkeley City College, California. Even though she has struggled with learning challenges/disabilities her whole life, she has forged a successful photographic career in the arts and education.

In 2020, she was one of the winning artists for her photo “Urban Love” in the 13th annual “Health through Art” sponsored by Alameda County Behavioral Health, Oakland, CA. In 2020, Francesca was also awarded an Individual Artist Grant from the National Arts and Disability Center (NADC) Semel Institute, UCLA to complete a project on macro flower photography. In 2023, she will be awarded a NADC Artist Achievement Award in recognition of artists who provide a heightened visibility to the accomplishments of artists with disabilities.

Ms. Roccaforte’s current body of work consists of California landscape, macro images, and animal photography. She has exhibited her work in over fifty museums, galleries, community organizations, spiritual centers and educational institutions in California, New York, Massachusetts, Italy, Germany, and West Africa over the last five decades. In the past, she has been employed as an instructor teaching both digital and film photography. Ms. Roccaforte has produced award winning documentaries on mental illness and performing arts along with multi-cultural educational videos and multi-media festivals. Her photos, essays, and poems have been featured in academic, cultural, and feminist journals and anthologies. She has self-published her own poetry chap book “Urban Love" and is currently writing her memoir “Beyond the Wooden Spoon”.

Teaching Experience
I taught beginning and intermediate digital photography for five years to adult learners at Pittsburg Adult Education Center, CA.

Education
Masters/Bachelor’s Degree-Visual Communication in Education, California State University, East Bay
Associate of Arts, Digital Imaging, Berkeley City College, Berkeley, CA
Associate of Arts, Television Production, Laney College, Oakland, CA
Photography Major- studied four years at the School of Visual Arts, New York

Professional Experience:
Winner of Alameda County Healh through Art Contest, What Mental Wellness looks like, 2020
Makers Paradise Art Gallery, Berkeley,CA- Photo Exhibit 2020,2019
Alameda Free Library Photo Exhibit, 2015,2013- Alameda, CA