CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/18/2019

Rohina Hoffman to launch 'Hair Stories' with a conversation and signing at Arcana: Books on the Arts

Saturday, May 18 from 4–6 PM, Hair Stories author Rohina Hoffman will appear in conversation with Aline Smithson at Arcana: Books on the Arts in Culver City. Book signing to follow.

Hair Stories is a series of excerpted interviews and color portraits of a diverse array of women that explores the complex relationship women have with their hair. Indian-born, Los Angele-based photographer Rohina Hoffman deployed the interviewing skills she has developed in her training as a neurologist to establish an intimate rapport that allowed for a truthful dialogue about the role of hair in these women's lives. Though conceived and shot before the #MeToo movement, this salient project presents hair as a metaphor for identity, femininity and the manner in which women struggle for control over their own bodies in a sometimes misogynistic world. Hair Stories shows that hair is more than just style or aesthetics; it is a physical manifestation of the ongoing hope and history of women.

Born in India and raised in New Jersey, Rohina Hoffman is a fine art photographer whose practice uses portraiture and the natural world to investigate themes of identity, home, women's issues and adolescence. A graduate of Brown University Medical School and resident at UCLA Medical Center, her training led to a career as a neurologist. While an undergraduate at Brown University, Rohina also studied photography at RISD and was a staff photographer for the Brown Daily Herald. A skilled observer of her patients, Rohina was instilled with a deep and unique appreciation of the human experience. Her ability to forge the sacred trust between doctor and patient has been instrumental in fostering a parallel connection between photographer and subject.

Aline Smithson is an artist, educator and editor based in Los Angeles. She is best known for her conceptual portraiture and a practice that uses humor and pathos to explore the performative potential of photography. Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, her work is influenced by the elevated unreal. She received a BA in art from the University of California at Santa Barbara and was accepted into the College of Creative Studies. After a decade-long career as a New York fashion editor, Smithson returned to Los Angeles and to her own artistic practice. She founded LENSCRATCH, a photography journal that celebrates a different contemporary photographer each day, has been the Gallery Editor for Light Leaks Magazine, and has curated and juried numerous exhibitions.

If you cannot attend this event, but would like to purchase a signed copy of Hair Stories or Ms. Smithson's wonderful Self & Others—Portrait as Autobiography, please place your order here, or call Arcana at 310-458-1499.

Arcana: Books on the Arts
Saturday, May 18: 4-6PM
8675 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, California 90232
Telephone 310-458-1499