BROAD STROKES 4 -Mandy Walker/Ruby Bell/Katarina Benzova/Eva Woolridge

In honor of International Women‘s month, Leica Gallery LA is proud to present Broad Strokes 4, featuring the work of Mandy Walker, AM, ACS, ASC-the first woman president of the American Society of Cinematographers.

Rather than focusing on a single theme or style, Broad Strokes 4 embraces contrast and conversation. The exhibition highlights how women use photography to tell stories, challenge narratives, explore identity, and capture moments both intimate and expansive. From bold, cinematic imagery to quiet, contemplative works, the art on view honors the breadth of female expression.

Mandy Walker AM, ACS, ASC is an Australian cinematographer based in Los Angeles. She is one of the few female DOPs working on big-budget feature films today. Best known for Australia (2007) Hidden Figures (2016) Mulan (2020) and Elvis (2022), the latter of which garnered her an Oscar® and BAFTA nomination and led to her becoming the first woman to win the ASC award, ACS award and AACTA for best cinematography and the Milli Award for Cinematographer of the year. Alongside feature films, she is renowned for her long career in commercials. Most notably the famous advertising spots for Chanel N°5, featuring Nicole Kidman and Gisele Bündchen. She is currently serving as the first woman president of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), is an accredited member of the ASC and Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS), served as a Governor for both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ASC, is inducted into the ACS Hall of fame, received an Honorary Doctorate from AFTRS, and in 2021 she was awarded The Member of the Order of Australia Medal for her contributions to the industry.

Ruby Bell is an Australian photographer and filmmaker working tricoastally in New York, Los Angeles, and Australia. She attended University of the Arts London with a focus on fashion media and now shoots editorial, commercial, and blockbuster projects. Notable clients and subjects include Tyla, Miu Miu, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Prada, Rolling Stone, Coca-Cola, and Vogue.She uses a cinematic approach when capturing photographs that gives an intimate look into worlds that blur the beauty of reality with the emotionality of imagination.

Katarina Benzova is an award winning photographer, adventurer and humanitarian born in the mountains of Slovakia. Her passion to capture spiritual high points and artists at the perfect moment when their souls are completely exposed land her work with the biggest names in music and entertainment industry for over a decade. Kat is passionate about helping our planet and endangered species through her foundation Mission11.org

Eva Woolridge (she/her) is an award-winning Queer, Black & Chinese conceptual portrait photographer, public speaker, and social activist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her photo series explore the sexual, spiritual, and emotional nature of femininity. In her work she transcends surface-level labels of people of color by conveying strength, perseverance, vulnerability and vitality using strong lighting and composition.

Woolridge’s work has been featured in publications such as Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Harper’s Bazaar, and has been exhibited in Seattle, Boston, D.C., and NYC. She speaks nationally about photography and its relationship to identity, including a TEDx Talk, the Schomburg Research Center in Harlem NYC, The Scope Art Art, and as a keynote for the University of Maryland, College Park. Woolridge currently sits on the Diversity Advisory Council for Fuji Cameras of North America.

In 2019 Woolridge became a recipient of The Leica Women in Foto Award for her series, "The Size of a Grapefruit,” a visual narrative based on Eva’s traumatic medical event which highlights the emotional stages from before, during and after her ovarian cyst surgery. Her objective is to address the accounts of her surgery, micro-aggressions and medical negligence Black women experience during medical emergencies, and the outdated information available in women's reproductive health.

Woolridge continues to use visual narratives to convey a tone of a new, inclusive wave of feminine energy through her gaze as a queer, woman of color, while commenting on the social & cultural conditions of her communities.

Based in Brooklyn, New York.

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