Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography, published by Magenta Foundation is a culmination of nearly 20 years of portrait photographs by the award-winning American photographer Aline Smithson, who lives and works in Los Angeles, where she was born and raised near Hollywood and Vine. Smithson’s much anticipated first monograph Self & Others presents over 120 photographs focusing on themes such as the innocence of childhood, the pathos of aging, and the passage from adolescence to womanhood.
Smithson’s photographs reflect her love of Hollywood movies and stars, fashion, culture from popular to highbrow, and storytelling. Her background as a painter and her years as a fashion editor in New York City informs her work.
Self & Others begins with Smithson’s early black and white photographs of her family, including portraits of her daughter Charlotte who would remain the artist’s muse and photographic partner for fifteen years. Many of the images were taken during summer vacations on a lake south of Boston that Smithson describes as “a magical corner of the world that I pack in my heart each time I leave. It is my paradise.” During this period Smithson was experimenting with composition, light and subject to create series that include “Paradise,” “Regarding Henry” (portraits of Smithson’s son), “Daughter” and “Inside Out,” featuring a poignant capture of childhood and charged, sometimes unsettling portraits of friends and family wearing masks.
BOOK
Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography
Photographs by Aline Smithson
published by Magenta Foundation
