American Folk
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Photographer
Lisa Elmaleh
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Date of Photograph
2010-2015
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Technical Info
8x10 Tintype
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Website
Since 2010, I have been creating tintypes of musicians who play traditional American folk music in and around the Appalachian Mountains. I travel out to the homestead of each musician, and spend a full day or more with each musician, documenting their likeness, their instruments, and the landscape that they reside in. Each 8x10 tintype plate is hand coated, exposed in camera, and developed on-site. This music guides me visually – the portraits are traditional, with historical references, as the music is traditional. The tradition of American folk music echoes in the historic nature of the process I am using.
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Biography
Lisa Elmaleh’s work is an exploration of rural America. Using a portable darkroom in the back of her truck, Elmaleh photographs using the nineteenth century wet plate collodion process. Elmaleh is a West Virginia based photographer and educator at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has been awarded the Aaron Siskind Foundation IPF Grant, PDN’s 30, the Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation Grant, the Tierney Fellowship, and The Everglades National Park Artist Residency. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently featuring her American Folk work as a solo show at KMR Arts Gallery in Connecticut, and a group show, Imaging Eden: Photographers Discover the Everglades at the Norton Museum. Elmaleh’s work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, PDN, and Rangefinder, among others.
