Leah Wendzinski
Angel Hair (Series)
DESCRIPTION
Growing up, my dad meticulously cared for my long, temperamental curls, laying towels on the floor and carefully working through knots. Every time, my hair dried flawlessly. When my grandmother trimmed it, she’d brush my curls out, calling them "Angel Hair" despite the frizz making me look like "Cousin It" beneath my oversized cape.
In Winter 2022, my dad’s mental health declined rapidly. My mom tried to shield me from worry, I felt helpless from afar. The knots in his mind tightened until, on Father’s Day, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
I created a self-portrait after brushing out my curls for the first time since my grandmother’s trims—something I’ve since learned isn’t recommended for dry curls. The background is a cropped image of a painting that still hangs in her living room, part of a photo I took of my parents on Rosh Hashanah 2021—my mom comforting my dad through a panic attack. The image is projected onto my body, but you can’t tell. My wild hair covers me, mirroring the shape of that childhood cape.
Untamed, unrecognizable, out of place.
AUTHOR
Leah Wendzinski is a queer photographer living and working in Chicago. She works predominantly in film, and her practice includes editorial, product, and event photography, portraiture, film processing, post-production and design.
Leah invites her subjects and viewers into a waking dream. A blurred, unbound place that cares less about planning and perfection and more about in-the-moment connection—a space to totally, gently take whatever shape feels right. Primarily working in film, her penchant for spontaneity forms a delicate dance between subject and surroundings to capture fleeting moments of raw being and beauty. Leah's images serve as portals to a realm where viewers are encouraged to appreciate the enigmatic wonders of individual worlds and embrace the magic inherent in transient moments. An interplay of light, shadow, reality, reverie, herself, and her guests allows fate to shape the vision.
Exhibition & Recognition:
2024: Analog Forever Magazine Exhibition. Portraits: Beyond the Exterior
2024: Always, Sometimes Podcast
2024: EXPO – Latitude Connectivity
2021: Film Objektiv Interview
2019: Typeforce 10, Chicago IL
2018: Typeforce 9, Chicago IL
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