Thomas Roma 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. His work, made almost exclusively using a homemade camera, has received widespread acclaim. Roma was a founder of the Department of Photography at Columbia University's School of the Arts and was head of the Department. He retired from his professorship there in 2018, shortly after the publication of a New York Times article about allegations of misconduct made by some of his former students. Roma has also taught photography at Yale, Fordham, and Cooper Union. He has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships and his work has appeared in one-person exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center of Photography in New York City. Roma's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For his collections of black-and-white photographs Come Sunday, exhibited at MOMA in 1996, Roma attended more than 150 religious services at 52 black churches in Brooklyn over a period of three years. Come Sunday is one of Roma's best-known works, along with a collection of photographs at people in the Brooklyn courthouses.
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. Roma uses a one-of-a-kind medium format camera that he built for himself.
Dear Knights and Dark Horses. With an introduction by Alec Wilkinson.
The Waters of Our Time. With a collaborative text by Giancarlo T. Roma.
In the Vale of Cashmere. With an introduction by G. Winston James.
Plato's Dogs. 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 allegations made by five former students from Columbia University and School of Visual Arts, in which they accused Roma of sexual misconduct. Through an attorney, Roma issued a statement about the accusations: "The statements they are making about his asserted misconduct are replete with inaccuracies and falsehoods. All four 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 National Gallery of Art cancelled an exhibition of Roma's work, scheduled to open May 2018, because of the accusations.
Collections
Roma's work is held in the following permanent public collections:
