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Born in the swamps outside of Houston, Jessica Leza began formal studies of voice and photography at the age of 11. After bewildering her music teachers with sound collages of garage sale cassette tapes and traffic sonatas, she studied music composition and voice at the University of North Texas, where the visual and intermedia arts continued to influence pieces which have been recognized in performances around the United States. As a vocalist she has performed across the United States, France, Russia, China, and Venezuela, particularly in world music ensembles whose repertoire spans Asia, Latin America, and Europe in styles which borrow from jazz, folk traditions, Western classical music, and the rock, blues, and country of the southern US. In 2006, she taught a course in business English at the Hunan Institute of Engineering in Hunan, China, during which time she collected the images used in subsequent photographic exhibitions throughout the United States. Her photography hangs in private collections spanning five continents, and has been published by art and literature journals and organizations such as UNICEF. Most recently the series "Images of South China" was recognized during the Prix de la Photographie Paris.