By Janet Alexander. From Novi Sad, Yugoslavia in 1984 until just this past April in Vietnam, Marissa Roth traveled the world documenting the immediate and lingering impact of war on women for her new photo essay series,“One Person Crying: Women and War.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Roth is a Pulitzer Prize-winning freelance journalist and documentary photographer. As the child of Holocaust refugees, Roth has explained that she felt compelled to, “reflect on war from what I consider to be an under-reported perspective.” Her images are supplemented by testimonials from her subjects, which provide a historical context as well as stirring personal details, putting a face and lending a voice to what she refers to as, “the other side of war.”
Roth’s personal project is now the subject of its first major exhibition at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, which debuted exactly a week ago from today. The 88 gelatin silver prints, spanning twelve conflicts, and their respective transcribed interviews will remain on display though October 18th. Roth has said, “I hope that this project inspires dialog and activism, in order to bring on-the-ground psychological and social support to these war-impacted women.” This impressive global essay is powerful testament to documentary photography’s time-honored tradition of commitment, passion, and purpose.
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