In his photographs, several of which line my walls and comfort me daily, John Rosenthal elevates the simple, quotidian elements of life . . . I love his work. His pictures are metaphors full of strong story and pleasure. John makes me think and feel differently about my world. He has the blessed ability to pull a person up out of despair. His work demands the widest possible viewership. He is a master.
Novelist Kaye Gibbons
“After is a stunning portrait of the Lower 9th Ward in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It marks the disaster in a powerful way and reminds us of how both this neighborhood and the city of New Orleans have recovered—like a phoenix—from their destruction. John Rosenthal’s keen eye captures images that are at once painful and beautiful in this unforgettable book.”
William Ferris, The Storied South, Blues from the Delta
Light-poems pared of excess, luxurious in their essentials, Rosenthal's images may be mysterious, or humorous, but they are always serious in their empathy and sympathy for humanity and our works. Rosenthal's superbly crafted poetic images are the works of a refined aesthetic sensibility which demands that beauty reveal itself in any subject.
Kate Dobbs Ariail, cultural critic and commentator for the blog, The Five Points Star