Table Scene (Red), October 2005 by Summer HS winner Ari Salomon

Ari Salomon
Currently residing in San Francisco, CA

website: www.helloari.com

Work Statement
18 Rue Dugommier: Reginka Cukierman Struzevska
A documentary photography series by Ari Salomon

These are images of my Great Aunt and her apartment in Paris. Regine was born in Poland, Dec 25, 1910. She has lived in Paris since 1936 — and in this apartment for more than 30 years. She is now widowed and without children or other family nearby. The images that make up this document reveal the passage of time on many scales. The everyday as it comes and goes and also as it builds on itself over many years.

They hint at both what is missing in her life and what fills it through layered compulsions of classification and arrangement. The natural accumulations that come from living in one's home and living in one's body. A spatial history of tchotchkes and living essentials.

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It is important to note that these photos are not "set up", these are found scenes. Note also that some images document the same scenes over a number of months and years.

Bio
I was born in Israel in 1971 and raised in San Diego. In 1987, while in high school, I started using the Nikkormat my dad bought when I was born. I produced a series of black and white pictorial abstractions and some travel logs. Later, at the University of California Santa Cruz, I experimented with alternative processes, color and other, more conceptually focused forms of art. I continued my interest in travel logs with a concentration on people in the built environment and experimented with a series of abstract motion studies.

In recent years, I found that working digitally worked for me and began exploring panoramic photography.

In addition to exhibiting my art, I am a sign maker and a web designer working for a wide variety of clients including museums and art galleries. I live in San Francisco and point my camera at a certain 14 month-old very often these days.