MONTANA AVE — It’s not uncommon for teenagers to rebel against adults and institutions that they deem “unfair.”
What’s more unusual, however, is seeing the fruits of that rebellion spread across the walls of an art gallery.
The Living by Lynne Gallery on Montana Avenue is displaying OVERPROTECTED IN SANTA MONICA, a series of poster-sized mug shots of teens in states of distress as outside forces try to block their senses and ability to perceive reality.
Students studying photography at Santa Monica High School created the work in protest of the removal of popular teacher Allan Barnes, who was put on administrative leave after school personnel found student artwork on a school server that they felt violated the rules of the class.
The photos included images of a male student using his hands to cover the bare breasts of a female student, who was also his girlfriend. The work was discovered after an art show in December included a piece depicting a student with an exposed back.
Barnes, who students say did not know about the other pictures, was removed from school with no explanation except that he had “back problems.”
He never returned to class.
Barnes calls it being “disappeared,” a word commonly used to describe the fate of dissidents in Argentina and Chile who never came home while those countries were under the thumb of despotic rulers.
Students had a less artistic turn of phrase.
“Our teacher was taken away from us,” said Molly Conn, a senior at Samohi and member of the photography class. “We were not allowed to contact him, and he wasn’t allowed to contact any of us. We made OVERPROTECTED IN SANTA MONICA because of all places, we didn’t think that this is where we would be so censored.”
Students and parents were unwilling to give up on Barnes, a teacher that many describe as inspiring. They stormed a Board of Education meeting, demanding an explanation for his absence that they never received.
Beyond their personal attachment to the man, the inability to reach Barnes put many of the older students in a bad spot, Conn said.
“We needed to be in communication with this guy,” she said. “He was reviewing our portfolios and stuff.”
Barnes and his students began to meet on Saturdays at Virginia Avenue Park to continue their photography education. He helped them with their portfolios and wrote letters of recommendation, but the group also went to museums and heard presentations by famed local photographers.
OVERPROTECTED evolved from those informal Saturday sessions.
Barnes had submitted student work to the “Inside Out Project,” a large-scale art project created by an artist called JR and funded through a grant from the nonprofit TED, a group “devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.”
The Inside Out Project accepts black-and-white photographs on a white background along with an explanation of the project and then prints them on large posters.
Barnes used it as an extra credit project the first year that the option was available, and decided in his second year that he would make it a class assignment to teach about lighting shots.
“The whole thing with JR connects the students to something bigger than the class, and bigger than a simple lighting assignment,” he said. “That’s what I’m about.”
The work will be on display at the Living by Lynne Gallery at 1627 Montana Ave. through June 15.
Lynne Leventen, the owner of the gallery, is used to taking on special projects and felt compelled to put the students’ work up for all to see. Leventen’s daughter was in Barnes’ class, and he inspired her interest in photography.
“This man was a mentor to a lot of students,” Leventen said. “When you lose a mentor in life, it’s huge.”
Living by Lynne will host a cocktail reception for OVERPROTECTED IN SANTA MONICA today from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
ashley@www.smdp.com