Franklin FOTO presents Up the Down Escalator, a street photography and collage exhibition by Gabriel Francis.

Up the Down Escalator is an invitation to slow down, look closer, and reconsider what we define as beautiful. It asks viewers to recognize themselves in others, and to acknowledge struggle not as something to be hidden, but as something that connects us all.

The images focus on moments and individuals often overlooked or dismissed. Francis is drawn to struggle and resilience, to the contrast between hardship and the strength people carry through it. Emotional, mental, physical, financial, and spiritual challenges are treated not as spectacle, but as shared human realities, approached with care, dignity, and respect.

“These photographs are not meant to be sensational,” Francis notes. “They are meant to be seen without judgment or pity, and appreciated as reflections of our shared humanity.”

Francis’s photographic practice is driven by movement and human interaction. Walking and riding public transit, talking with strangers, and remaining immersed in public space are integral to his process. With his camera always close at hand, Francis approaches photography as a way of staying present and open, attuned not only to what is visible but to what is felt.

In early 2025, Francis expanded the project through a series of handmade collages, combining photographic prints with found and weathered materials. Inspired by boarded up buildings, notes left on walls and benches, and objects discovered on the ground, the collages transform the images into tactile works that create an environment for the photographs to exist within. Text and material fragments further extend the world of the work, allowing it to function as lived artifact rather than documentation alone.