"THE RIVER is a project I made during the coronavirus pandemic. I left New York City on March 15th, 2020, thinking I would be in Wyoming for two weeks. However, as isolation continued for nearly a year, I ended up staying much longer. In Jackson, I was able to take walks while always keeping a distance from others. I often walked by the Snake River near Emily’s Pond and as I did, I became captivated by the people I observed, and my sense that they seemed to be looking for the same things I was: a connection to the landscape of the place and the landscape of the new social reality in which we found ourselves, a connection that felt more and more and more elusive as the pandemic wore on. The images in this series, taken with a medium format camera, capture the unease I felt and saw around me. A woman sits by a pond seeming to be in a meditative position, yet she seems preoccupied with her phone. A group of young people keep their distance forming a human triangle. A man swims downstream and seems almost lost in the river's current. All these images are expressions of the tension not only between people and space but also in the spaces between people." - Kristina Loggia
Kristina Loggia’s photography practice is marked by a deep understanding and reverence of the subjects she captures, blending personal history with broader cultural narratives. Loggia's approach to portrait photography is influenced by her childhood admiration for photographers like Harry Callahan, Diane Arbus, Dorothea Lange, and Margaret Bourke-White. She believes that every aspect of what she captures holds importance to contextualizing her subject, a philosophy that guides her work. “No space is just a ‘space’, no object just an ‘object’. Everything has a history and holds meaning,” Loggia says about her approach to photography. Whether capturing celebrities or everyday individuals, Loggia seeks to convey honesty and authenticity in her images.
Loggia’s early career in Los Angeles involved photographing actors' headshots, but she soon transitioned to portrait photography, learning the technical aspects from her peers. This shift allowed her to develop a strong portfolio, leading to opportunities with publicists and magazine editors. Loggia's work is characterized by its immediacy and attention to detail, often incorporating the subjects' personal environments to add depth to their portraits. Her photographs embody importance of capturing honest, meaningful images. Her love for photography has been a lifelong journey, deeply rooted in her early experiences and inspirations. Through her work, Loggia continues to explore and document the intricate details that define human experiences and connections.
In 2001, Loggia embarked on a significant project, "Apron Chronicles: A Patchwork of American Recollections," which began while she was finishing a two-year journey photographing young women in rodeo pageantry. Collaborating with freelance writer EllynAnne Giesel, Loggia photographed women with personal connections to aprons, capturing diverse subjects such as a 111-year-old mother, a Holocaust survivor, and a biology professor from Mali. This project, comprising 46 environmental portraits and accompanying stories, has become nationally recognized as a nostalgic and thought-provoking traveling exhibition, exhibited at the Women’s Museum in Dallas TX, Channing peak Gallery in Santa Barbara, CA, the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA, and the Phoenix Gallery in New York, NY, among others.
Loggia's fascination with the American landscape is evident in her ongoing project "Cross Country," where she captures the vast and varied scenery of the United States. Her time living in Wyoming has further fueled this passion, and she views her drives across the country as a form of meditation and artistic exploration. During the coronavirus pandemic, Loggia created "THE RIVER," a project that encapsulates her experience of isolation and the search for connection. She left New York City in March of 2020, expecting to stay in Wyoming for two weeks, but ended up remaining there for nearly a year. In Jackson, she frequently walked by the Snake River near Emily’s Pond, observing people who, like her, sought connection with the landscape in the face of the new social reality. Using a medium format camera, Loggia captured scenes that reflected the unease and tension of the time: a woman by the pond, seemingly meditative yet preoccupied with her phone; a group of young people maintaining distance, forming a human triangle; and a man almost lost in the river's current. Loggia writes in her artist statement, “All these images are expressions of the tension not only between people and space but also in the spaces between people.”
Born and raised in New York City, Loggia graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Initially following her family's tradition in acting, she studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory in both New York City and Los Angeles. However, a lecture by Ed Asner about the war in El Salvador ignited a childhood dream of becoming a war photographer. This inspiration led her to El Salvador with the Witness to Peace Program, where she discovered her passion for capturing truth through the lens of a camera. Although marriage and motherhood eventually kept Loggia from war zones, she continued to pursue her love for documentary photography, resulting in extensive photographic studies. Her work has been featured in numerous magazines and news networks, including Time Magazine, The New Yorker, SPIN, Detour, ESPN, Fortune, Telegraph UK, CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s All Things Considered, The New York Times, among others. Her work has been shown across the United States in galleries and museums and is a part of several prominent private collections.