Ann Rosen (b. Brooklyn) is a New Jersey-based artist known for her social justice projects using portrait photography as a tool for empowerment and empathy. In Rosen’s current project, Being Seen, she teaches art and photography workshops with women from marginalized communities such as shelters, formerly homeless Veterans, recovering addicts, formerly incarcerated.
Rosen graduated from SUNY at Buffalo (BFA) and the Visual Studies Workshop (MFA), studying with Nathan Lyons, Joan Lyons and John Wood. Her influences are stark B&W and color portraits by Paul Strand, Diane Arbus and Duane Michals.
She has received multiple grants from the Brooklyn Arts Council and Puffin Foundation and has participated in residencies at Visual Studies Workshop; Mauser Foundation, Costa Rica; 360 Xochi Quetzal, Mexico; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; and Henry Street Settlement.
Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at venues including: Cepa Gallery (Buffalo, NY), Five Myles Gallery (NYC), Webster University (Webster Groves, MO), Franklin Furnace (NYC), NYC Public Library, Grand Army Plaza (NYC), and Fairleigh Dickinson University (Madison, NJ). She has been included in recent group exhibitions at Burchfield-Penney Art Center (Buffalo, NY), Brooklyn Museum of Art (NYC), Museum of the City of New York (NYC), and Henry Street Settlement (NYC). Her work has been featured in the Village Voice, The New York Times, Newark Sunday Star Ledger, Brooklyn Courier, Pfizer Journal, and the 11th Annual Brooklyn Pride Magazine.
Rosen’s social justice projects, In the Presence of Family: Brooklyn Portraits and Revisiting in the Presence of Family, documented families at street fairs highlighting biracial adoption, LGBTQ parenting and intermarriage, then revisited those families ten years later. These projects are permanently housed in the Brooklyn History Collection with books in the library collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art and ICP, NY. Rosen’s photographs are also in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art Library, NYC; Albright-Knox Gallery and Library, Buffalo, NY; and Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY.
In 2024, Rosen curated Capturing Dignity at El Barrio ArtSpace PS109, which featured five women photographers exploring themes of community, portraiture, and dignity in their work. The exhibition was featured in the Daily News.
Sunset Avenue, Asbury Park, New Jersey
annrosenpics@gmail.com
EDUCATION
MFA Photographic Studies, SUNY at Buffalo, Rochester, NY
Visual Studies Workshop, SUNY at Buffalo, Rochester, NY
BFA Photography, State University of New York at Buffalo, NY
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Being Seen, Cepa Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2023 Being Seen, Part II, Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2020 Being Seen, Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Shelter Living, Visual Studies Workshop, Open Studio, Rochester, NY
2014 In the Presence of Family: Brooklyn Portraits, May Gallery, Webster University, St. Louis, MO
2010 In the Presence of Family: Brooklyn Portraits, Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2007 In the Presence of Family: Brooklyn Portraits, Fairleigh Dickenson University, Teaneck, NJ
2005 In the Presence of Family: Brooklyn Portraits, Resnick Gallery, LI University, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Community Portraits, Grand Lobby, Grand Army Plaza Library, Brooklyn, NY
2002 In the Presence of Family, Gallery 402, OIA, New York, NY
1998 Family Histories, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY
1985 Crowd Pleasers, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY
1981 Unlike in Characters, Franklin Furnace, New York, N
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Capturing Dignity, curator and exhibitor, El Barrio Artspace PS 109, NYC
2024 Dwelling in Hope, Leach Gallery, Studio Montclair, Montclair, NJ
2023 American Album, Professional Women Photographers, El Barrio Artspace PS 109, NYC
2022 13th Annual Self-Published Photobook Show, Davis Orton Gallery and Griffin Museum of Photography, Boston, MA
2022 Dreamscapes, Professional Women Photographers, online exhibition
2021 Splash, Griffin Museum of Photography, Boston, MA
2020 Footprints on Montague, KodaLab & FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Photography Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
2019 B/W Sculpting with Light, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
2017 50 in 50: Work from the Collection, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
2017 Metro Show 31, City Without Walls, Newark, NJ
2015 Portraits, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ
2010 Modern Family, Riverside Church, New York, NY
2001 Open Studio ‘2001’, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY
2000 In-SitesVI: Making Our City Livable, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY
1999 Moma and Dada, City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
1997 New York Gets Married, Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
1997 Social Comment in New York City, St. Mark’s Church on the Bowery, New York, NY
1991 Beyond Photography, Texas Fine Art Association, Austin, TX
1988 Appropriation and Syntax: Uses of Photography in Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
1986 Painterly Concerns, Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED HONORS, AWARDS AND GRANTS
2025 Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn Arts Fund, Being Seen, Brooklyn, NY
2025 Brooklyn Arts Council, Local Arts Support, Being Seen, Brooklyn, NY
2024 Puffin Foundation, Capturing Dignity, Teaneck, NJ
2024 Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn Arts Fund, Being Seen, Brooklyn, NY
2024 Brooklyn Arts Council, Local Arts Support, Being Seen, Brooklyn, NY
2023 Genesee Valley Arts Council Regrant, Being Seen, Rochester, NY
2023 Women United Art Movement magazine, issue #2, featured artist
2022 Women United Art Movement, long-listed, Art Prize, Photography
2022 VSW, Photography workshops for women from marginalized communities, Rochester, NY
2022 360 Xochi Quetzal, Residency, Lake Chappala, Mexico
2021 Puffin Foundation, Being Seen, Teaneck, NJ
2019 Mauser Foundation, Residency, Parrita, Costa Rica
2018 Visual Studies Workshop, Project Space Residency: Being Seen, Rochester, NY
2016 Puffin Foundation, In the Presence of Women: Living in Shelter, Teaneck, NJ
2010 Brooklyn Arts Council, BAC Regrant (Photography)
2004 Brooklyn Arts Council, BAC Regrant (Photography)
2000 Henry Street Settlement, Artist in Residence, New York, NY
1998 Virgina Center for the Creative Arts, Individual Artist’s Residency
1996 Virgina Center for the Creative Arts, Individual Artist’s Residency
1996 New York State Council on the Arts, Visual Artists Program
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2024 Daily News, December 16, 2024, CARIBBEAT, (second story in article)
2024 Women United Art Magazine, Summer issue
2014 Bill Barrett, In the Presence of Family, (catalog), Webster University, St. Louis, MO
2010 Staff, ’Shuttering’ Family Caught on Film, Brooklyn Courier
1999 Dan Bischoff, Artists play with dolls, but it’s not kid’s stuff, Newark Sunday Star Ledger, May 9
1988 Andy Grundberg, The Appropriation & Syntax: Use of Photography in Contemporary Art, The New York Times, August, 12
1983 Fred McDarrah, Centerfold, The Village Voice, October 11 and November 22
1980 Catherine Lord, Women and Photography, Afterimage, Vol. 7, #6, January
1980 Anthony Bannon, Painterly Photographs, The Buffalo Evening News
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn, NY
Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
Museum of Modern Art Library, NYC
The Buscaglia Art Gallery, Niagara University, DeVeaux Campus, Niagara Falls, NY