We were lucky to catch up with Ann Rosen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ann, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Being Seen, Parts I and II

As a portrait photographer, I focus on capturing images that reveal the vitality and dignity of my subjects. Being Seen, Parts I and II grew out of a concern for the homeless crisis of women and its relationship to mental illness and drug abuse. As a professional photographer and experienced teacher, I began teaching workshops and photographing women living in shelters, as well as working with several non-profits dedicated to assisting women and their families.

In the first part of my project, Being Seen: Part I, the photographs were taken during art and photography workshops I conducted with women who live in shelters in various cities in the United States. The women collaborated with me on their portraits which reflect the way they wanted to be seen—with strength and grace—but also reveal the instability, uncertainty and complexity connected with shelter living.

After several years, my project expanded to Being Seen: Part II. I conducted similar workshops with women who were formerly homeless veterans, or formerly incarcerated. These women are currently part of a program facilitated by a Brooklyn non-profit, HousingPlus. The images embody a personal power they work to achieve on a daily basis. In Rochester, NY, through the assistance of Catholic Family and Community Services, an organization that helps refugees around the world find safe haven, I captured images of Afghan women who fled to the United States in 2021 when the Taliban swept into Kabul. My subjects portray a personal authority as they wrestle with the hardships of holding onto their traditions while living in a new country.

The resulting images from my Being Seen: Parts I and II project are accompanied by wall texts from personal histories either written or recorded. Combined with the photographs, these stories challenge dominant views of feminine strength and foster compassion, thus giving these women renewed agency.

Link to video, Part II:
https://www.annrosen.com/being-seen/part-ii–installation-video

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Ann B. Rosen fell in love with photography as an undergraduate and continued this work through graduate studies at SUNY, Buffalo, working with Joan Lyons, Keith Smith and John Wood focusing on printmaking and bookmaking. She combined text, paint and abstract photographs in her early work. Amid life changes, Rosen’s work transformed into photographic portraiture. Her images expose a vulnerability and strength in her subjects through facial expression and body language.

In the Presence of Family: Brooklyn Portraits portrays how families are transformed through biracial adoption, LGBTQ+ parenting and intermarriage. Rosen photographed families at street fairs in Brooklyn in the early aughts and photographed them again ten years later creating photo books that reflect their personal and ethnic family stories. Being Seen is a project to bring understanding and dignity to women living in homeless shelters, formerly homeless women living in permanent shelters and Afghan women refugees. The portraits, exhibited with oral histories, reflect their instability and resilience as they struggle to recreate their lives.

Rosen has received grants from the Brooklyn Arts Council for her family portrait project and the Puffin Foundation and the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts, for her project, Being Seen. She’s created new work in residencies from the Project Space, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester; the Mauser Foundation, Costa Rica and 360 Xochi Quetzal, Mexico.

Solo exhibitions include Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY: Being Seen, Part I and Part II; Cepa Gallery, Buffalo, NY: Being Seen (date TBA, 2025) Webster University, St Louis, Missouri: In the Presence of Family: Brooklyn Portraits; Grand Lobby, Grand Army Plaza Library, Brooklyn, NY Community Portraits. Group exhibitions include El Barrio Artspace PS 109, East Harlem, NY: Capturing Dignity, December, 2024; Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY, 50 in 50: Work from the Collection; Henry Street Settlement, NYC, In-Sites VI: Making Our City Livable; Albright- Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, In Western New York; Brooklyn Museum, NYC, The Appropriation & Syntax: Use of Photography in Contemporary Art, and CIIS, San Francisco, What Keeps You Up at Night?.

Rosen’s work is a permanent part of the Center for Brooklyn History, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY. Her work has been written about in the Village Voice and NY Times. Her books are in the permanent library collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art and International Center of Photography.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The desire to create began when I was a child. No other activity attracted me with such vigor. I went to art classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and took as many art classes as I could in high school. I went on to study art at the State University of New York at Buffalo. During my senior year, I discovered photography and was hooked for life. After my undergraduate studies, I took classes at Harvard summer school and MIT and went on to graduate school at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester. Eventually, in the early aughts, after becoming a single mother and full-time art teacher, I started using digital photography. This changed the look of my practice, but afforded me more time to explore new projects. My lens turned to social justice related projects and telling stories that were important.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Throughout my life, creating visual art and photographs has been paramount. There have been obstacles, but I’ve learned to overcome them, financially and emotionally. I’ve sought out resources to assist me in my journey as a fine art photographer and to tell the stories I want people to know about.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.annrosen.com/
• Instagram: @annrosenphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annrosenphotography/

Image Credits
1. photo of Ann by Barrett Benton at her artist talk, 7/2023 2. Photo by Ann Rosen_2022_archival color photograph_30in x 30in Madina, Afghan woman – “I came to this country from Afghanistan in 2021 when the Taliban took over. It was a difficult trip. I had to wait for a long time at the airport, was separated from my mother and father and sister, was tear gassed, sent to Qatar and then, finally Rochester. I am happy now, taking care of my younger brothers and working as a translator.” 3. Photo by Ann Rosen Kaitlyn and her daughter, Rochester, 2022, archival color photograph, 17in x 17in “I was already drinking by my 13th birthday. When I was 17, and I met my first daughter’s father, I ended up shooting heroin and smoking crack. But, after getting pregnant, I stopped and went into a treatment program. However, I started shooting again after giving birth. I had to give up my child. At 24, I went to jail and that pretty much saved my life. They send me to a rehab. I’m a little overwhelmed being there with a child, but the program itself is helpful, and it helps you realize who you are and who you want to be. I don’t even think about anybody at home but my family. I just think about me and her now. That’s just the way it has to be.” 4. Photo by Ann Rosen Nadine, Brooklyn Shelter, 2018, archival B&W photograph, 30in x 40in “My name is Nadine. I was born in Jamaica. I’m married and have children. At age 15, I came to the US and decided to stay with the ministry and mother Miss Patricia Elaine Suzanne Daley; and to continue with that work of love and kindness. I worked hard to make money and get an education. I have two brothers – Clayton Lexington Wright Daley and Gary McDermott. I’ve been in the shelter many years because of circumstances that are not of my own doing. The court told lies about me and was unlawful to me. My plans for the future are to continue to be me and continue to make me beautiful.” 5. Photo by Ann Rosen Melanie, HousingPlus, Brooklyn, 2022, archival color photograph, 24in x 24in “I’m a veteran. After being homeless for a while, I came to HousingPlus through the NYC shelter system. Now I have my own apartment.” 6. Photo by Ann Rosen, 2023 Installation shot from Five Myles Gallery exhibition 7. Photo by Ann Rosen, 2020 Installation shot from Five Myles Gallery exhibition 8. Photo by Barrett Benton, 2022 Ann teaching a workshop for HousingPlus clients. Notice the studio set up in the background 9. Photo by Ann Rosen, 2022 Portable studio set up from Rochester workshops 10. Photo by Ann Rosen, 2018 Woman working on her painting during a workshop at a Brooklyn shelter.