Now in its 13th year, MOPA’s Youth Exhibition encouraged K-12 students in San Diego County and Tijuana to interpret a topic and submit photographic or video art. This year students responded to the theme of sound.

The exhibit presents visual takes of natural, man-made or musical pulses impacting the young creators. It will run from September 1, 2018 through January 9, 2019 at the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA).

MOPA’s Youth Exhibition is a partnership with La Jolla Music Society to bring together photography and music. The student art tackles musical impacts and looks into ways students perceive sounds.

After receiving nearly 700 entries, a panel of jurors that included professional adults in the fields of art, education, and government, selected final works on the basis of creativity and originality, interpretation of theme, quality and artist statement or pitch. The selections range from a black and white photograph of a seemingly angry baby screaming out waah straight into a lens to a collage of magazine cutouts of mouths and of messages policing too much or too little talking.

Artwork categories include digital photography, silver gelatin prints, mixed media such as collages, digital darkroom photography using digital manipulation, video, and other photographic processes.

“Understanding perception of one sense can sometimes come by synthesizing it using another one of our senses, as is the case of paraphrasing one fine art with the tools of another: poetry to illustrate a dance, musical composition to accompany lyrics or, in this case, photography to interpret music or sound,” said Deborah Klochko, MOPA’s executive director and chief curator. “For the 13th Annual Youth Exhibition call for submissions we asked students to use visuals that communicated that which they perceive in a sound. How would it look?”

As part of the partnership with the La Jolla Music Society, a few of the selected pieces will also be displayed at the construction site of The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, known as The Conrad, in La Jolla.

Located in Balboa Park, the Museum of Photographic Arts is a vibrant center for visual learning. Since its founding in 1983, the museum’s endeavors to consistently address cultural, historical and social issues through its exhibitions and educational programs.

MOPA is one of three independent photography museums in the United States and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. As a non-profit organization, MOPA is supported by members, individuals, corporations, foundations and government agencies.

The mission of the Museum of Photographic Arts is to inspire, educate and engage the broadest possible audience through the presentation, collection, and preservation of photography, film and video.