On November 26, 2020 the world and our community lost an extraordinary human being; a photographer, poet, and overall creative. Leah Norwood was extremely gifted and we are all lucky to have been able to experience all that she had to offer, even if for a brief moment.

A kind and powerful soul, she will truly be missed here in our Long Beach community. We will continue to honor Leah’s presence through her work. Our thoughts and prayers are with Leah’s family and friends as we send our deepest condolences.

"I use documentary photography as a way to express my relationship with adolescent dysphoria, identity, self-image, and our society as a whole. I see the beauty in using my work to open up much-needed dialogues on how important it is to not only show the greatness in people but also to shine a light on what hardships people go through to obtain what our society has deemed “beautiful.” As a Black artist, I see the importance of sharing the fluidity of Black life as we have been represented in such a way for centuries as if our identities are singular and I hope that my work breaks that proposed ideology. Once this quarantine is done, I am excited to get back out into the world and continue capturing the joy that I hope will come from being released as a community from this long anxiety ridden isolation.

As long as I have been shooting, I still have so much growing to do, and I love that. I am only 20 years old and have accomplished so much that I still find it hard to believe! I am excited to continue to grow as a creator and continue to tell my story and the stories of those close to me, strangers who turn into friends through my photographic endeavors, and much more. Without photography ... I truly don't know where I would be in life, as cliche as this may sound ... photography saved my life."