Street Seen: Photographs at LAX by Marissa Roth

"Street Seen" - Curated by Marissa Roth, Photographs by Marissa Roth - a new exhibition opening at Los Angeles International Airport, Terminal 6 on November 4, 2016 running through May 7, 2017!

A native Angelino, Marissa Roth was inspired to get out of her car for this project and became a pedestrian in Los Angeles. She took the street level view of L.A. as her subject, walking, meandering and photographing quietly, in human time.

"The natural pace that humans walk is about three miles per hour. Pedestrian cultures honor ancient bipedal rhythms, allowing for life to unfold at the speed of breath. Car cultures have forced humans to sit motionless while in motion, creating a detached and accelerated view of the immediate environment."

"Cars are still perceived as vehicles of freedom and the lure of the open road is a romantic and viable notion. But in cities, the reality of controlled speed and grinding traffic, often colors that vision with a sense of confinement."

"Los Angeles is considered the archetypical car culture. In the early 20th century, visionary urban planners with endless land in their sights conceived the idea of the suburb. With the advent of the car, time, space and distance took on completely different dimensions, and the freeway was born."

Images from top: "Azalea", "Reflection of Sky and Clouds", "Tassels" and "Walking Woman"
All images © Marissa Roth, 2013 & 2014

Selfie Self-Portrait

                                             Heading out to Sea ~ Onboard the Queen Mary II, Ieaving New York, July 24, 2016 © Marissa Roth

Photographers have long taken self-portraits as a means of personal evaluation, literal self-reflection, documentation, memorialization…and probably healthy ego.

I am wondering, if, in this era of the selfie, the notion of a self-portrait takes on two-dimensional meaning. Is a selfie a self-portrait in the grand tradition of portraiture ~ thoughtful and insightful as to whom the subject is? Or, is it merely a transient record to be beamed on social media in an instant of self-promotion?

In any event, since I have embraced modern times, and all of its attendant social media demands that seem to propel careers forward, I have nonetheless decided not to make pedestrian selfies that look like everyone else’s, but endeavor to find a modicum of creativity and individuality in the photographic process.

Isle of Skye

Had the remarkable experience of attending the centenary symposium honoring the wonderful American abstract expressionist painter, Jon Schueler, on the enchanted Isle of Skye last weekend.

Met an array of very impressive people ~ starting with Magda Salveson ~ Schueler's widow, Mary Ann Caws, Richard DeMarco, John Purser, Ann Koll, Dianne Cousineau, and...and...and...

My head and heart are still spinning with the thoughts and knowledge shared in the lectures, the impressions of seeing Schueler's paintings and works on paper, and the considerable warmth, respect and love that was sincerely evident throughout.

It was an experience that will stay will me, and I suspect will profoundly inform my future artwork.
What a gift!

Peace in 2016

                                                        From "The Crossing" ~ Somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean, May 2015 © Marissa Roth

 All good wishes for the new year ~~

Peace
Tolerance
Compassion
Hope
and Wonder ~~

Tears for Paris

                                                          Gare de Lyon and Olive Tree in the Rain,  Paris, France  November 2009 © Marissa Roth

To say that I'm heartbroken, is an understatement.
To say that I'm worried for the future for France and elsewhere, is a true statement.
To say that I believe that peace and goodness will prevail, is a sincerely hopeful statement.
To say anything is a challenge, because simply, words can't convey all of the emotions
that so many compassionate, heartfelt people around the world are feeling....

North & South Again

Somewhere on the Road in California (top image) & Sun Glinting off of a Spider's Web in Friday Harbor, WA  September, 2015 © Marissa Roth

On the road, 2,600 miles in 3 weeks. Was headed north to Friday Harbor, WA, to spend 2 months in a self-assigned writer's retreat in order to finish the text for the "One Person Crying: Women and War" book, when an unexpected good-news email dropped in with the offer of a teaching position at Saddleback College in Laguna Hills. My beloved friend Daniel Mazia always said, "You need to go where the work is...", and so I repacked the car and headed back down to LA in order to plug-in formally, get grounded and prep for the classes and to continue working on other projects.

Ah, the road of life sometimes decides for us….again, I thought I was heading north, to the land of pines and pacific environs. And again, I am back amongst the freeways and too familiar surroundings!

The journey continues…..

Monica Smith

                                                                      Monica Smith photographed in New York City,  May 9, 2015 © Marissa Roth

“Nothing much has changed in the world.”

This portrait of Monica Smith, who is Anne Frank’s second cousin, is the final portrait of Marissa's 31-year odyssey that is the global photo essay,”One Person Crying: Women and War.”

"I had the opportunity to photograph and interview Mrs Smith one day before her 92nd birthday this past May, at home in Manhattan. It was a great honor and profound pleasure to meet her and to feel her indomitable spirit which continues to prevail in spite of the many emotional heartbreaks that she endured in her life.

Monica Smith was born Dorothee Wurzburger in Stuttgart, Germany, on May 10, 1923. Her mother and Anne Frank’s mother were first cousins, and Anne was six years younger than her. In 1938, when it became increasingly evident that the situation for Jews in Germany was dangerous, Mrs. Smith’s parents put her on a Kindertransport to Holland where she was housed in an orphanage near Amsterdam.

Anne and Otto Frank would come and visit her regularly and bring peanuts. “I didn’t realize that she would become a saint. Maybe that’s what was needed. Her fingers were always covered with ink”.

In 1940, Mrs. Smith was reunited with her parents and they went to England where they boarded the RMS Samaria for the transatlantic crossing that took them to New York and would save their lives."