Ann B. Rosen fell in love with photography as an undergraduate and continued studying this medium, receiving an MFA at VSW, Rochester, where she worked 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, Rosen photographed families visiting 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 portrait project to bring understanding and dignity to homeless or formerly homeless women. The images, 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 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, Being Seen, and Webster University, In the Presence of Family: Brooklyn Portraits. Group exhibitions include Burchfield-Penney Art Center, 50 in 50 and CIIS, San Francisco, Wha
