Judith Joy Ross’s timeless and empathetic portraits

Rebecca Bengal | Aperture | 9th September 2021

Ross’s acclaimed portrait projects can be years long – members of Congress, people at Washington’s Vietnam memorial, Pennsylvania school pupils. They are mostly formal compositions, set in unremarkable locations. What makes them stand out is their emotional acuity, the ability to reveal a private self. Ross has that ability to connect with her subjects: “I know I’m being delusional. But I like to think I’m capturing the real thing.”