Brooklyn – Heights
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EXHIBITIONS
Garments of Light
Fine Art Digital Inkjet Paper with Archival Pigmented Inks, 12 inches x 18 inches My photograph, Garments of Light, is now included in the online gallery forthe Global Day of Jewish Learning, Nov 13 2011. When submitting the work, I was asked to describe the connection between my art and my Jewish community. When I first attended services at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah more than 15 years ago, I was thrilled to find a spiritual home where my gay, activist and Jewish identity was welcomed and celebrated. CBST has the largest LGBTQ congregation in the world,and is a synagogue where gays, heterosexuals, non-Jews, and folks of all ages and ethnicities can pray together. It is also a house of study, a community that initiates social justice actions and is deeply committed to tikkun olam, mending the world. The mission of CBST is to champion a Judaism that rejoices in diversity, denounces social injustices and strives for human rights for all people. For more than three decades my career as a photojournalist, fine art photographer and international photography teacher has been driven by a life-long desire to make a difference through projects that address vital social justice issues and have a positive and transformative effect on the world. In this composite image, Garments of Light, two teenage girls wearing ceremonial clothing that express their relationship to their God, are stitched onto a collaged border of transparent headscarves and embroidered tallit. These layers, transparent and solid, represent the visible and invisible threads that link their youthful fashion and religious culture. Both the jilbab and the tallit can be used to cover the head and shoulders with the intention and direction of enhanced prayers. Rena Dewi, a twelve-year-old at the Al-Azizia Orphanage in Banda Aceh, Indonesia is wearing a jilbab. Wearing the jilbab symbolizes adherence to Allah’s commandments in the Qur’an, the Islamic holy text. The interpretation of the text encourages modesty and social propriety for girls and women. Rena lost her parents to the 2004 Asian tsunami and is living in a once secular state moving towards fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic traditions. When photographed she was carrying her notebook to the digital photography and storytelling class I was teaching. On the day of her Bat Mitzvah, thirteen-year-old Faith Hill, adorned with an embroidered tallit, is standing in front of a stained glass window at her synagogue in New Jersey USA. The fringes of the tallit’s four corners hold the tzitzit. The Torah, the divine Jewish texts, instructs Jews to wear these fringes as a way of remembering and doing all God’s commandments. Recitation from the Torah in synagogue is an ancient Jewish ritual once reserved for a boys’ rite of passage to Jewish education and adulthood. After thousands of years of exclusion, only in recent decades have girls been allowed to wear a tallit, study Torah, and take part in this sacred Bat Mitzvah ceremony. Fifty years ago, I was one of the first girls permitted to become Bat Mitzvah at my synagogue and that experience became a symbolic marker in my spiritual, feminist and artistic path. Garments of Light represents the unspoken dialogue between a Jewish and Muslim girl about education and faith, and can be viewed as my commitment to tikkun olam.
Trix Rosen’s Illuminations at Art House Gallery
You are Cordially Invited to View A retrospective exhibition which traces a half-century of groundbreaking photographs from Trix Rosen Opening Reception DateOpening Reception Date Sunday, May 5th, 2019 3-6 pm Presenting portraits celebrating gender-fluidity, photographs of endangered architecture, laser-light drawings and the Maîtresse slideshow, last seen at MoMA (2017-2018) in the CLUB 57: Film, Performance and Art in the East Village 1978-1983 Exhibition. Art House Gallery 262 17th Street, Jersey City NJ 07310Curated by Andrea McKenna Illuminations runs until June 2, 2019
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Trix Rosen’s Maitresse opening at MoMA on Oct 31, 2017
CLUB 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978-1983 MAITRESSE slideshow; MoMA NYC; Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983Where | Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA) New York NYWhen | October 31, 2017 – April 1, 2018 Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983, is a major exhibition examining the scene-changing, interdisciplinary life of downtown New York’s seminal and fabled post-punk alternative space in New York’s East Village. MAITRESSE was originally created for Club 57 as a feminist slideshow with 98 erotic images for the party night of Pictures you Can Dance To (April 30, 1980) and set to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground singing “Venus in Furs.” The images capture a fearless collaboration between Rosen’s female gaze and the sexual imagination of her subjects. In the safe, respectful, intimate setting of her studio playground, the women – straight, gay, singled and coupled — felt free to dress, undress and pose, wearing feather boas, studded leather or nothing at all. Rosen’s images range from romantically soft and feminine to shockingly powerful and muscular, to gender-fluid and androgynous. Transgressive at the time, they were among the first to show women exploring their bodies, reclaiming the power to define their own physical beauty and sexual truths.
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“Ident-Alter-Ity- But Still In One Piece”
WONDERFUL NEWS! Eight photos from my HE/SHE Portfolio, representing an 18-year collaboration with performance artist Fred Koenig, have been invited to the5th THESSALONIKI BIENNALE OF CONTEMPORARY ART “IDENT-ALTER-ITY-BUT STILL IN ONE PIECE”June 17 – July 31 2015 Opening Wednesday, June 17th at Thessaloniki City Hall, Thessaloniki, Greece Investigating gender, the right of gender self-determination, and other crucial identity-related issues as seen through the eyes of modern art practice constitute the themes of the multifaceted action “Ident-alter-ity” that will take place within the framework of the main program of the Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art. My photographs in “BUT STILL IN ONE PIECE” embrace the fluidity of gender identity and explore the possibility that we each hold a myriad of alternative selves within us. Among the artists included in “IDENTALTERITY” are David Hockney and Lynda Benglis. Hockney converses with the homo-erotic poetry of C.P. Cavafy through a series of engravings that illustrate a new, 1967 English translation of the Alexandrian Greek poet by Stephen Spender and Nikos Stangos. In “Female Sensibility” (video 1972), Benglis presents two heavily made-up women kissing and caressing each other. The action is read against the feminist film theory of the “male gaze.” An exhibition, a symposium, and a performance are at the core of the State Museum of Contemporary Art, Action Field Kodra, Thessaloniki Pride, and the Municipality of Thessaloniki. The exhibition gives the opportunity to both established artists and emerging artists to engage in an open dialogue through their work.
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2015 Winter to Spring Exhibitions
WHO’S HULDAH? Biblical Woman Who Shaped Our TraditionHebrew Union College –JIR MuseumOne West Fourth St, New York NYFebruary 3- June 30, 2015 HAGAR. You are the One that Sees Me (2014)Digital Collage. Fine Art Print on Cotton Rag Paper, Charcoal and Charcoal Pencils, Color Pencils, Gold Leaf, Wire Grill Bristles Brush; 17¾ W x 20½ H Inches (Framed). Laser Artist: Matthew Tanteri Hagar was an Egyptian handmaid of Sarah. Because she was childless, she gave Hagar to Abraham to bear a child. When Hagar became pregnant, Sarah forced her to flee into the desert. At the well of a spring Hagar encountered a Divine Messenger and God spoke directly to her. In this image, ‘You are the One that Sees Me,’ Hagar is looking upwards. She is becoming God’s counterpart. The gold leaf flakes and multi-colored light rays represent God speaking directly to her. God promised Hagar that a nation would come from her son, Ishmael. TAMAR. Claiming Her Rights (2014)Digital Collage. Fine Art Print on Cotton Rag Paper, Charcoal and Charcoal Pencils, Color Pencils, Wire Grill Bristles Brush, Gold Leaf, Antique Gold Wax Metallic Finish; 21¾ W x 25½ H Inches (Framed). Laser Artist: Matthew Tanteri Judah does not want to keep his promise to give Tamar his third son after his first two sons, both her husbands, were killed by God for their wickedness. Tamar decides to get justice for herself and secure her rights. In this image she is waiting for Judah at a site where prostitutes are known to gather. Her face is veiled so that she will be unrecognizable. The light rays surrounding and piercing her depict both her link to God and to the twins she will conceive, one of whom will be an ancestor of King David. The fire represents Judah’s initial command that she be burned to death when he discovers that he had slept with his daughter-in-law. The deeply etched scratches on the print mirror Tamar’s willingness to face adversity so that she could secure her own future and place in posterity. DON’T TAKE PICTURES: InstamaticThis gallery is on view through May 26. Patti’s Preternatural Portrait, NYCPolapan Sepia 56 ISO 400 (Polaroid)Image 3½ x 4½ inches The photographs in this on-line exhibition were all made with instant films and show a diverse array of genres, subject matter and styles. My fading and aging polaroid print embraces the flaws inherent in the medium and becomes a continually evolving new reality. VOICES: AN ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVENAWA Gallery (National Association of Women Artists)80 Fifth Avenue (at Union Square), New York, NY April 2nd – 30th 2015Opening Reception April 2, 2015 5:00 – 7:00 pm CHANGED LANDSCAPES. New York, NY (1998)72H x 48W inches, floating museum wood box frame with aluminum brace; Silver Gelatin Print My images contribute new definitions to feminist iconography by depicting gender ambiguity and authenticity, and challenging the sexual, cultural, and erotic representation of women. They suggest the creative ability of women to break taboos and shape their own image and identity. CHANGED LANDSCAPES depicts a woman who bravely explores the physical and emotional contours of her new form after a double mastectomy. This biographical portrait can be viewed as a narrative about her life and as a defining moment of transfiguring change. Bald, breast-less, and scarred, she is fearless and beautiful, essentially and eternally female.
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Autumn Exhibitions 2014
HOMETherese A. Maloney Art Gallery at the College of Saint Elizabeth Morristown, NJSeptember 25 – December 14, 2014Opening Reception: October 9th, 4:30 to 7:00. The word, “home” resonates with each of us in a particular way, depending on our upbringing, country of origin, and our sociological, psychological and/or physical experience of “home,” wrote curator Dr. Ginny Butera about the exhibition, HOME. ‘Kalinga Vernacular Houses’ is an image from my documentary series‘ A Kalinga Journey through Time.’ For over a quarter of a century I have been photographing the dramatic transformation of an indigenous community set deep into the rice terraces of the northern Philippines. My work as a photojournalist initially brought me to the region. It was at the 1986 ‘peace talks’ between the new Aquino Government, the rebel soldiers and the tribal people where I first met a tribal woman who invited me to visit her village, Luplupa in Kalinga Province. It could only be reached by walking a narrow bridge stretched high over the Chico River. When I returned again in 2013, I saw that the last of these original one-room octagonal huts perched high on wooden posts have all been replaced by two-story concrete, multi-room houses. I am drawn to photographing the timeless nature of historic architecture because the sites and structures are a repository of collective memories – a record of the builders and the people who once inhabited the spaces they held dear. IRONBOUND UNBOUND #5 – BRIDGING the VOIDSumei Art Center Gallery at the Prospect Street Fire Station56 Prospect St. Newark, NJ 07105Gallery Hours: 12 to 5 pm Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and by appointmentOpening reception: October 10, 5 pm to 10 pm The curators for this show asked for the best work documenting the existing Pulaski Skyway structure and the best imaginative work using the Pulaski Skyway as inspiration or a point of departure. This view of the Pulaski Skyway was observed during my daily walks with my dog in Leonard Gordon Park, Jersey City Heights. While standing on the highest hill in the park, I have been drawn to record the fleeting last rays of the summer sun as it isolates the Pulaski Skyway and lights it with a magical golden sheen. Five of my ‘Pulaski Skyway’ photographs that contrast the man-made landscape with the natural environment are represented in this exhibit. SAME DIFFERENCE September 12 – October 17, 2014 William V Musto Cultural Center420 15th St. Union City, NJSeptember 12 – October 17, 2014Opening Reception: September 12, 2014 from 7:00 pm until 10:00 pm My images record a biographical or historical moment, measured not as an isolated fragment of time, but revealing the narrative arc of my subject’s life, capturing past, recording present and projecting into the future. Whether an architectural site or a portrait, what haunts me is finding the essence of the visible and invisible timeline. The portraits exhibited in SAME DIFFERENCE empower the viewer to question and challenge conventional definitions of gender and beauty.
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Breaking Through Tradition
“Photographer Trix Rosen’s work about gender ambiguity empowers the viewer to question conventional definitions of beauty and remind us it is more important to define our own personal beauty rather than being defined by others.”Maureen Harrison and Alexsandra Simakowicz, Curators, BREAKING THROUGH TRADITION BREAKING THROUGH TRADITIONApril 3 – May 3, 2014Opening Reception: April 3, 2014, 7 pm-9 pmPierro Gallery, Baird Center, 5 Mead Street, South Orange, NJ 07079 Please join me at the Pierro Gallery in South Orange, NJ, for BREAKING THROUGH TRADITION, a group show celebrating the American cultural transition towards inclusivity. My HE-SHE portfolio presents an ongoing series of portraits documenting my seventeen-year collaboration with French artist Fred Koenig, who unselfconsciously dares the viewer to cross over boundaries of imagination and desires. Observe him in ‘The Sea Change’ and be confronted by a fearless man who is empowered and transformed by the ambiguity of his sexuality. ‘Ravaged’ presents Fred within the decaying landscape of a New Jersey historic farmhouse. Perhaps this intimate pose and an abandoned structure lay bare a similar beauty and vulnerability. Fred and I collaborate not just in our art but in our political activism. Talking about his HIV/AIDS status, Fred told me that it is part of what he shows me by exposing his soul to my camera. ‘Changed Landscapes’ also reveals a figure who has dared me to look deeper because she wasn’t afraid. Here is a woman who bravely explores the physical and emotional contours of her new form after a double mastectomy. This portrait can be viewed as a narrative about her life and as a defining moment of transfiguring change. Bald, breast-less, and scarred, she is fearless and beautiful, essentially and eternally female. These images record biographical moments, measured not as isolated fragments of time, but revealing the narrative arc of both Fred and Takami’s life. They are capturing the past, recording the present and projecting into the future. How courageous and optimistic to look inward and become stronger through the experience. I hope to see you at the opening of BREAKING THROUGH TRADITION on April 3, 7 pm-9 pmPierro Gallery, Baird Center, 5 Mead Street, South Orange, NJ 07079
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