Aline Smithson has exhibited widely, including over 40 solo exhibitions, a myriad of group exhibitions, and been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, and PDN. Aline is the Founder and Editor- in-Chief of Lenscratch, and has been teaching at the Los Angeles Center of Photography since 2001. In 2015, the Magenta Foundation published her first significant monograph, Self & Others: Portrait as Autobiography. In 2016, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum commissioned Aline to a series of portraits for the upcoming Faces of Our Planet Exhibition. Her work is currently on exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London as a finalist in the Taylor Wessing Prize. She is a dedicated film shooter.
City of Dreams
I’ve never gotten lost in Los Angeles, guided by the mountains to the north, the coastline to the west and the OZ-like downtown to the east, but I almost lost the city when I moved to New York and claimed I would never return. Fifteen years later, I begrudging took up residence amongst the ubiquitous blue skies and palm trees, slowly falling in love again with the mariachi low rider tattooed Kangol hat gold toothed hip-hop east side movie loving foodie hipsters west side workout women saggy pant skater riding residents with faces from every part of the globe gripping the steering wheel next to me illuminated by the cinematic eye-squinting golden klieg- like light that casts a spotlight on everything from the mundane to the sublime and makes me happy to live in this city of dreams.
To view more of Aline Smithson’s work please visit her website.