Jona Frank
Jona Frank (born 1966) is an American portrait photographer who lives in Santa Monica, California. She was born in Camden, New Jersey, and grew up in Cherry Hill as the youngest of four children.
She studied English and earned a master’s in film production at the University of Southern California.
Frank makes work about youth and childhood. Her books include High School (2004), Right (2008), The Modern Kids (2015), and Cherry Hill: A Childhood Reimagined (2020).
High School looks at the social hierarchies and subcultures in American schools.
Right: Portraits from the Evangelical Ivy League follows students at Patrick Henry College, a homeschool-to-college program. It includes their homework, interviews, and essays.
The Modern Kids documents teenage boys in amateur boxing gyms in the northwest of England, shot over four years.
Cherry Hill is a memoir made with staged photographs that recreate scenes from her youth, with actors including Laura Dern and autobiographical essays.
Frank’s work is in major museums such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Her art often explores how young people form identities and how family life affects them.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:59 (CET).