Photographer, Michael Franco, of the DFW area sits down to talk about growing up queer in a small town, the short-comings of religion in our country & the importance of culture.

Written and Transcribed by Kar Mercado

Interview by Kar Mercado

How did you get started?

Most of it was like seeing random things out in the world, and I just wanted to get a quick pic on my phone. It wasn’t really serious at first, mostly for instagram, like a photo dumps, during covid  we didn’t have much to do. I was just taking photos. So I did that for a long time and then, I thought I was pretty decent, like some of my photos. Then I went to college, I was doing the graphic design route but I got dropped. I was like maybe since I don’t know what to do I tried photography, I took a class. I ended up liking it. It’s a science, you have to know where to put things within the frame and use correct apertures, ISO’s, and shutter speeds. It was fun for me seeing it all come together.

Was it something you had thought about before?

Yeah, taking pictures on my phone was always a fun thing to do so I was confident enough to want to take it more seriously. 

I notice with a lot of your pictures there’s a technological aspect to them, a lot of them are handled with curiosity for how technology plays into our everyday lives, could you elaborate on that a bit more?

Having screenshots of my work in text messages, I thought was really cool, you know because these are projects that take a lot of time, there’s planning, editing, shooting, and that’s a lot of work, so it was just funny sending it to my computer to myself. It’s so basic and meta, you know? Just playing around with how simple technology makes everyday life. Art, you have to put a lot of thought into it, they contrast each other.

I also asked you if there’s a way you want to section your photographs because there’s so many themes, how you play with technology, religious symbolism, what would you say is your draw to having a lot of religious symbolism in your work?

I would have to say it comes from my upbringing in a small hispanic town, religion was kind of forced down my throat, especially my christian parents who are really strict. I grew up in the church, going every Sunday and Wednesday, helping out when they needed it, and it was really important for my parents, so it was really big for me. For a long time I tried to like it, but now.. when I came to terms with being gay it was hard to go to church and listen to what they were saying about homosexuality being a sin. I use my photography as a coping mechanism and to show this how I came to be. Religion is beautiful, I think, despite all the hateful parts, it’s beautiful how people are willing to listen, and follow these rules for their whole lives. Even like the imagery of crosses, virgin mary, statues, they are all beautiful to me. Capturing all these beautiful things that I grew up with, these beautiful things have caused trauma, because im gay. Being able to just respect and capture the beauty of what raised me, in a way it’s kind of a love letter to religion and my upbringing. 

Would you say it’s something that you have to go out of your way to develop that relationship now? Whereas before it was forced on you? Is it still something you feel you have to do?

I definitely still have to do it… I haven’t gone to church since I moved out of my home though. But in the back of my head my parents’ voices are saying, you have to find a church. At the same time it’s like, how can I find a church when I know in the end in their eyes I’m not gonna go to heaven either way? That’s why I like to take pictures to grapple with that identity of being raised in that lifestyle and now being gay, it conflicts. A lot of my pictures have conflicting symbolism. I have a gay couple in luchador masks. The masks represent manliness and machoness. Having a gay couple wear them in bed conflicts with the meaning of the masks. Or I also have one where a man is wearing the mask and is holding flowers, its masculinity and femininity, they collide, just like me. 

What is your focus with churches, solely churches?

I did a cross series, I drove around the dfw area taking pictures of crosses that were on churches and they all happened to be at the top. Showing how back home we have like 10 churches and the population is like 4,000 people. The church to people ratio is crazy. Exploring dfw and seeing how crosses and church plays into the area and everyday life is interesting. There’s churches on every corner, I wanted to play with the idea of just going out and capturing the mass quantity. 

What did you find in your hunt?

It was really jarring how many there were, literally I went to one street and there were three churches on the same street. I went north of 380 and there was a church across the street from another church . It was kind of scary how similar they all look, the white roof, white cross, brown brick, and the cross just on there.

In that repetition, do you still find that religion is special? Even if there’s a saturation of places where you can find it?

I think so, even in my small church in my hometown, you could tell these people were devoted. They were there for it, the congregation was around 20 people but they were still going crazy, so I think even the smallest or even the biggest, shows how powerful religion is. I’m not a raging christian, but just from an outside perspective it’s crazy to see. 

How have you navigated your sexuality and religion?

That’s a tough one. I know in my heart that there’s a god there somewhere, and I believe in him, I feel like that’s enough for me right now. 

With politics, it’s weird, you know most christians are republicans, and I always think god would not want this, your god would not vote for a pedophile. In my head I know what’s right and what’s wrong. And that’s what gives me peace. 

On the topic of politics, there’s a rawness in your images that deal with religion and state. Are you hoping to comment on a stance that you yourself have or are you just simply observing your environment? 

I have a stance and I really am standing on it with these photos. Just trying to show religion and its effects, it’s being forced down everywhere, especially now with our president. My “God Bless America” project used saturated colors and picturesque compositions to highlight the American dream, and show how religion kind of is the American dream. In one photo, I shot a girl with pink hair standing in front of a church, to represent someone who doesn’t belong in the church. As sad as it is, the church is the backbone of this country and now some people are negatively affected and targeted by it. 

This (Image above) was my grandma, my mom, my dad, and my older brother, I wasn’t born yet. The way the colors bounce off each other in a harmonious way. You can clearly tell these aren’t white people. I just think it’s crazy how ride or die for America my parents are  when their parents aren’t even from here. It’s crazy to me. They assimilated too much? They sometimes forget where we came from and it makes me sad. Mexican culture is so beautiful. 

Have you found distance between you and other hispanic people who are catholic?

Growing up in elementary school, everyone would go to the CCE, it was like a catholic school thing. I swear everyone would go and I remember telling my mom I wanted to go, she was like no that’s not for us! There was also a disconnect in how we spoke, they did mostly Spanish masses, so I wouldn’t even be able to listen in. My christian church would tell me those catholic people don’t know what they’re doing, they’re all going to hell. I think that’s why I like to look into Catholicism. I’m an outsider and there’s a lot of beautiful aesthetics in the Catholic religion. 

As I grew up I came to realize that there’s more to it than just going to church and going to school, my small town, even though it was predominantly hispanic, Spanish didn’t come into my life. My parents didn’t teach me Spanish, so I think growing up.

Has your background changed the way you view larger institutions? (like churches, schools, government)

With these photos I’m trying to navigate my place, like church, America, examining them, taking pictures of them. Trying to see where I fit, and that’s how I am with religion too, like where do i fit in this?

How does your camera give you that power to examine them?

Examining their buildings was a way to diminish their power. Going and seeing these massive churches, really huge beautiful versus smaller churches, I was judging the bigger ones more. Like what are yall doing to get so big? 

How important is your culture to your work?

It’s really important to me, it sets me apart from other people, not in a bragging way, it just makes me appreciate myself. Some people don’t have traditions or customs. They can’t take pictures of their culture in a beautiful way. It fills me with a lot of pride.

To close out, what kind of advice do you have for people wanting to get into photography

I would say start out shooting what you think is pretty, play with lighting and positioning. Find what you want, what makes you happy with your photos. 

Have you found what makes you happy?

I would like to think that, but as I go with more photos and projects, I mean I just started out like two years ago, I still have a lot to get through.

To view more of Michael Franco’s work you can find him @michaellffranco on instagram

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