ANDREA MODICA

CLASS OF 1978

PHOTOGRAPHER AND PROFESSOR

 

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is an adage attributed to several people including Federick R. Barnard, Henrick Ibsen. , and also a Chinese proverb, but for Andrea Modica, Class of 1978, it is an expression of art and vision and a talent developed while she was a student at Fontbonne.

Andrea shared that while at Fontbonne she was taught all the standard subjects, read the Bible and J.D. Salinger, had speech classes, learned how to investigate sexism in journalism and advertising, but most of all, Fontbonne taught her to question everything! “I have woven all these lessons and methods into a class I teach at Drexel University,” Prof. Modica shared.  She continued, “Fontbonne encouraged girls to be curious, responsible, and even a bit rebellious.  Graduates in all fields are prepared to be scholars and leaders, inspired to live a life of ethics and compassion, and encouraged to pass that torch on to future generations.” She credits Mr. Bellinger for inspiring her to channel her feelings into her work, which she learned to do as his student and has embraced that practice for decades.

Ms. Modica lives in Philadelphia, where she works as a photographer and teaches in the Photography Program at Drexel University.  She is a graduate of Yale School of Art, is a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Fulbright Scholar.  Her books include Treadwell (Chronicle Books), Barbara (Nazraeli), Minor League (Smithsonian Press), Human Being (Nazraeli), Real Indians (Melcher Media), Fountain (Sintehour Editions), L’Amici del Cuore (Nazraeli), As We Wait (L’Artiere Editions – now in its second edition), January 1 (L’Artiere Editions), Lentini (Kris Graves Projects) and Reveal (Yoffy Press). Her upcoming book, Theatrum Equorum will be published with TIS.

Modica exhibits nationally and internationally, and she has had solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, and the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts.   Andrea Modica’s photographs are part of the permanent collections of numerous institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum (in NYC), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the International Museum of Photography and Film at the George Eastman House, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, France.

 

< Back to Alumnae Profiles