Arcana:

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Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography is a near-twenty year culmination of portrait photographs captured by award-winning photographer, writer, and educator Aline Smithson. Beginning with her earliest black and white silver gelatin prints, she photographs the world around her considering the poignancy of childhood and the pathos of aging and relationships. The book continues with her hand-painted photographs - including her defining series, Arrangement in Green and Black: Portrait of the Photographer’s Mother - where she combines humor and family to create a universal expression of motherhood. The book is completed by her most recent color projects that revisit beauty, the essence of childhood, and an examination of created realities. Aline brings a background in painting and fashion to her images, but at the heart of her work is her ability to recognize the inner self of her subjects. The photographer considers all her portraits a reflection of herself and the stories she wants to tell, and in that way, has created a visual language that is her own unique autobiography.

To read more about and see images from Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography, check out The New Yorker's recent "Photo Booth" feature on Aline and her work! And if you are unfamiliar with Aline's influential photography blog Lenscratch.com, by all means click here!

Inventory Number: E000ASS&O