Thomas Roma

Thomas Roma (formerly Thomas Germano born in 1950) is an American photographer who has worked almost exclusively since 1974 exploring the neighborhoods and institutions of his native Brooklyn, photographing scenes from churches, subways and everyday life, using a homemade camera.

Roma is a former professor at Columbia University's School for the Arts, and the director of the Photography Department which he founded. He also has taught photography at Yale University, Fordham University, The Cooper Union, and The School of Visual Arts.

He has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships and his work has appeared in one-person and group exhibitions, including shows with accompanying books at the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography in New York City.

His work is included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.

For one of his collections of photographs, titled Come Sunday, Roma attended more than 150 religious services at 52 churches in Brooklyn over a period of three years.

Siciliano Camera Works

In the 1970s, Roma started manufacturing and selling cameras under the name "Siciliano Camera Works". He produced the medium format "Siciliano", the 35 mm panoramic "Pannaroma", as well as a rewind crank for the Leica M2 and M3. To create the panoramic camera, Roma used a Nikon F camera body that was gutted and served merely as a film holder. He milled an adapter out of aircraft aluminum to go between the Nikon body and a Mamiya 50 mm Sekor lens. He also made a bright-line optical viewfinder for the camera. The camera was called a Pannaroma 1X3, making a play on words between “panorama” and Roma's wife's name “Anna,” to create the word "P-anna-roma".

Roma uses a one-of-a-kind medium format camera that he built for himself.

Books by Roma

  • Come Sunday (1996). With an introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • Found in Brooklyn (1996). With an introduction by Robert Coles
  • Sunset Park (1998). With an introduction by Ian Frazier.
  • Higher Ground (1999)
  • Enduring Justice (2001). With an introduction by Norman Mailer.
  • Sanctuary (2002)
  • Show & Tell (2002). With and introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
  • Sicilian Passage (2003). With an introduction by John Szarkowski.
  • In Prison Air, The Cells of Holmesburg Prison (2005)
  • On Three Pillars (2007). With text by Phillip Lopate.
  • House Calls (2008). With William Carlos Williams. With an accompanying text by Robert Coles.
  • Dear Knights and Dark Horses (2010). With an introduction by Alec Wilkinson.
  • The Waters of Our Time (2014). With a collaborative text by Giancarlo T. Roma.
  • In the Vale of Cashmere (2015). With an introduction by G. Winston James.
  • Plato's Dogs (2016). With an introduction by Giancarlo T. Roma.

Personal

Roma is married to Anna Friedlander, daughter of photographer Lee Friedlander. They have one son, Giancarlo T. Roma.

Controversy and sexual allegations

On January 3, 2018, The New York Times published an article about five former students from Columbia University and School of Visual Art accusing Roma of sexual misconduct from sexual harassment, manipulation and coercion to oral rape.[1][2][3]

Through his attorney, Roma issued a statement about the accusations: "The statements they [the five women] are making about his asserted misconduct are replete with inaccuracies and falsehoods. All four [five] have taken isolated, innocent incidents, none of them predatory, and have created fictitious versions of reality that are libelous and in the present political climate designed to damage his career and his personal life. Professor Roma’s sympathies then and now lie with those who have been mistreated in any way and he completely fails to understand why these women have chosen to create these complaints two decades after the alleged facts supposedly occurred."

Roma retired from teaching at Columbia University on January 3, 2018, the day after the article was published.[4][5]

The National Gallery of Art cancelled an exhibition of Roma's work, scheduled to open May 2018, because of the accusations.[6]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/arts/design/thomas-roma-sexual-misconduct.html
  2. ↑ "Thomas Roma, Photographer and Columbia University Professor, Accused of Sexual Misconduct". Hyperallergic. 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  3. ↑ "Photographer Thomas Roma Accused of Sexual Misconduct". PetaPixel. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  4. ↑ Moynihan, Colin (2018). "Columbia Professor Accused of Sexual Misconduct Retires". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  5. ↑ "Photography professor Thomas Roma retires amid allegations of sexual misconduct - Columbia Daily Spectator". www.columbiaspectator.com. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  6. ↑ Colin Moynihan And Robin Pogrebin. "The National Gallery of Art Cancels a Chuck Close Show After Misconduct Accusations", The New York Times, January 26, 2018. Retrieved on January 27, 2018.
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