Rosalind Fox Solomon (1930-2025) was an American fine art photographer renowned for her often intimate black-and-white portraits depicting human suffering, rituals and resilience in a stark manner.
During a career spanning almost 60 years, Fox Solomon traveled far and wide to tell visual stories of the harsher realities of life, while managing to build genuine connections with her subjects – epitomized by her 20-year-long project photographing a shepherdess in the Ancash region of Peru.
William Eggleston, Memphis, Tennessee, 1977 (Image credit: Rosalind Fox Solomon (courtesy of Julian Sander Gallery))
This year, Fox Solomon’s work is debuting at Photo London, a prominent British photography and image-based arts fair, exhibited by Julian Sander Gallery. The exhibition, which is taking place until May 17 at Olympia London in Kensington, focuses on 30 years of Fox Solomon’s career from the Seventies to the Nineties.
Latest Videos From
You may like
At the heart of the exhibition is a curated selection of 15 rare, large-format prints from Fox Solomon’s series Portraits in the Time of AIDS. Perhaps the artist’s most celebrated project, she undertook it during 1987-88 when the AIDS epidemic reached its peak.
The photographer’s aim was to humanize the individuals suffering from the deadly disease during a time when it was heavily misunderstood and stigmatized.
Among the subjects depicted in this intimate collection of portraits are AIDS patients as well as their loved ones, which was Fox Solomon’s attempt at highlighting the devastating impact of the disease.
Dead End, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1990 (Image credit: Rosalind Fox Solomon (courtesy of Julian Sander Gallery))
Wider works from Fox Solomon on display include portraits taken in the mid-Seventies in the southern United States, as well as an “extensive” series of photos depicting her friend and fellow photographer William Eggleston – who is widely credited with increasing recognition of color photography as a legitimate artistic medium.
You can view Julian Sander Gallery’s presentation of three decades of Rosalind Fox Solomon’s work at Photo London now. Entrance to the event requires a ticket, but the exhibition itself is free to enter at booth C01.
Take a look at the best cameras for portraits along with the best lenses for portraits, and check out these portrait photography tips.