LILYAN ALOMA | COMMUTING
“My life stretches out in front and trails behind me like railroad tracks. I am the train, its passenger, and the engineer. The way I have elected to live, and the goals I have worked toward, have been my route and my destination. As a passenger on that train, I could get off, choose a different route, or pause just to check out the view. But such is not the case when you are a commuter passenger, taking a single route over and over, perhaps to a job, or school, or, as in my case, to care for my mother at the end of her life.”
– Lilyan Aloma
As my mother descended into dementia, which ultimately brought her to a long-term care facility, I found myself traveling regularly on the Long Island Railroad, fulfilling my mission as caregiver. As a passenger on a commuter train, my route had become fixed, and I could not get off the train; life had chosen this destination for me.
As I rode the rails, I found myself deep in thoughts as ambiguous as my understanding of dementia itself. My only recourse was to surrender my control to life’s unpredictability. As a photographer, my camera and my private world within the viewfinder have always nourished me, providing a vehicle for experiencing life through my observations and a method for expressing these experiences creatively.
It seemed natural to turn to my toy friends, Holga and Diana, whose power lies in their reliance on serendipity and the relinquishing of the controls that photographers are so fond of.
I shot frame by frame, photographing the moving scenery outside the train window, remaining open to the mystery of not knowing the result or how the multiple exposures would combine. With all the controls pushed aside, I experienced my train ride metaphorically, as my life had demanded that I release my desire for control, personally and, as a result, creatively.
“What I captured as a consequence of “happy accidents” cannot be anything less than astonishing. Guided by the hand of intuition, the tracks, the stations, the billboards, or whatever rolled by my window were part of a process of random selection, resulting in a unified image that expressed the interrelatedness of all things in our physical and conceptual world.
It is of great significance that the word ‘commute’ has an added meaning; to commute is to change one kind of payment or obligation for another, that being the underlying factor in my becoming a commuter passenger.”
– Lilyan Aloma
LILYAN ALOMA
I began exploring photography in the 80’s. Embracing my passion for black-and-white imagery, my home studio and darkroom became my school for independent learning. Aside from a course in darkroom basics, I am self-taught. My earliest focus was portraiture and children’s photography, which led to commercial assignments emphasizing children and families.
In the years that followed, my photographic exploration continued evolving in terms of interests and methodologies. My toolbox grew to include color and digital photography, infrared photography, both analog and digital, hand coloring, and photo collage.
Since 2000, my fascination with Manhattan’s cityscape has been the subject of my heart. This work has found significant recognition. Between 2003 and 2009, I had 3 solo exhibits at OK Harris Works of Art in New York. My photos have been included in group exhibits: Leica Gallery, Rayko Photo, The Lightbox Gallery, Soho Photo, The National Arts Club, Brevard Museum, Berlin Photo Biennial, and others. In competition, my honors include the Tokyo Fine Arts Award, the Moscow Fine Art Award, PX3, American Photography, the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, the International Photography Awards, and others.
In 2010, I won an IPF fellowship from the Aaron Siskind Foundation for my work entitled “Billscape.”
Articles about my work have appeared in Black & White Magazine, Art Dealer Street, Dodho Magazine, Photography Annual 2020, and Silvershotz Magazine.
“Since 2000, my fascination with Manhattan’s cityscape has been the subject of my heart. Manhattan’s constantly changing visual plan continues to inspire me to explore its physical complexity.”
– Lilyan Aloma
My earlier film work can be found in the collections of the Beinecke Library at Yale University, the Brooklyn Museum, the Stein Rogan Advertising, the Museum of the City of New York, and the New York Historical Society.
Manhattan’s constantly changing visual plan continues to inspire me to explore its physical complexity. More recently, my photographic adventures include “Toying Around Manhattan,”relying exclusively on toy cameras, Holga, and Diana in my pursuit of the cityscape, while bringing me back to my roots in film. Simultaneously, my cell phone has provided inspiration and a healthy respect for new technologies.
