Rosalind Fox Solomon Knihy

"Could this be my own face, I wondered. My heart pounded at the idea, and the face in the mirror grew more and more unfamiliar." - Masuji Ibuse, Black Rain. The latest work by photographer Rosalind Fox Solomon explores the contrasts and commonalities in lives across the globe. In a Brazilian favela, a man daydreams with a replica of a French royal painting. In New York, a mother proudly watches her daughter don a Statue of Liberty crown. In rural Guatemala, children pretend to play music with paper instruments. As the narrative unfolds, a darker story emerges, shaped by the violent events of recent global history that some may wish to forget. Through her poignant black-and-white photographs, Fox Solomon reflects on the horrors of war and its lasting effects. The physical scars of her subjects reveal the impact of conflict and aggressive foreign policies: Cambodian teenagers who lost their legs to landmines, victims of Agent Orange affecting children long after the Vietnam War, and a Hiroshima survivor highlighting the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons. Solomon's compassionate images serve as a tribute and a stark reminder of those whose bodies bear witness to the relentless pursuit of power and the consequences of conflict.

Rosalind Solomon takes pictures of people and their relationships with each other. Whether well-known figures or ordinary people, her subjects appear as they go about their daily lives, celebrating at parties, engaging in moments private and public. Cultural and social contrasts characterize the photographer's images, captured during numerous trips across the United States and around the world since the 1970s. The pictures tell tales of rootedness and loneliness, poverty and affluence, moments of hope and moments of happiness. In Chapalingas, Solomon has grouped her photographs into associative categories such as Food, Wheels, Splits, Hearts, Play and Faith, prompting the viewer to compare the motifs present in her more than 160 images. Accompanied by Solomon's poetic text, which sheds light on the contexts in which her photographs were taken and the personal thoughts they engendered.