Lila Barth

 

Lila Barth is a photographer working and living in New York City. In June of 2017 she received her BFA in photography from The Fashion Institute of Technology. She photographs solely in film, usually opting for medium format and occasionally 35mm. Despite shooting largely under the influence of other contemporary photographers, she seeks to establish herself as a bridge between fine art and documentary photography. Storytelling through her deadpan gaze, she relies on the reluctance and cautiousness of her models, and the covert beauty of their surroundings to create compact, stirring tableaus. Lila was a winner of the PDNedu annual student photo contest for her series “My Sister Look at Me”, and has since been featured in other publications including a second run in PDN with select works from this series, “Lucinda’s Valley.”

Lucinda’s Valley

The series “Lucinda’s Valley” is a study of Love Valley, North Carolina and the people who make up this unusual community. Incorporated in 1963, the town was founded with the mission of creating a Christian utopia, a monument to the American Frontier. Today Love Valley has a very different atmosphere. Having fallen on harder times the citizens make livings ranching and working for themselves. The townsfolk are cowboys and cowgirls that are both encapsulating and defying stereotypes of the South. Through spending several days in their company I used my lens to instill a sense of dignity compiled with reluctance to allow a stranger with different ideals define them. Lucinda was my guide, a hardened middle-aged woman who told me every secret of the valley. These photographs, all taken on 120mm and 35mm film, reflect the unfamiliar faces and spaces of a town stuck pining for the past.

To view more of Lila’s work please visit their website.