aj Melnick

The artistic and multi-cultural community drew aj Melnick to Santa Fe in 1994. She moved from Dallas, Texas, where she began developing her talents as a professional photographer more than three decades ago.

Her work is exhibited in galleries and museums, in juried group shows, and more recently in individual shows.  

The documentary series, Mothers and Dreamers, highlighting single mothers in college, was shown in colleges across New Mexico including Santa Fe Community College. Six selections appeared in the journal, Frontiers, A Journal of Women Studies, in 1999.

Another Melnick series, Carrying on the Tradition, was shown at University of New Mexico-Los Alamos in January, 2004. It featured 22 images of three generations of the Moquino family of potters, Santa Clara Pueblo. This documentary was on exhibit at Santa Fe Community College in September, 2005.   

In March, 2004, her photographs of Chabad,: Living the Tradition, were exhibited in the Main Foyer of Santa Fe Community College.

Los Alamos Historical Museum in Los Alamos, NM featured Melnick’s latest documentary series, Sixty Years on The Hill: People of the Manhattan Project, 1943-45, Summer 2005 and Summer 2006. The project includes 61 portraits of people who lived in what is now Los Alamos during that time Human interest stories accompany the gelatin silver images. (A generous grant from Los Alamos National Bank underwrote the project.) The show was also exhibited at the National Atomic Museum, Albuquerque, NM Fall 2005 through early 2006. The book, Sixty Years on The Hill: People of the Manhattan Project, was published by Sunstone Press of Santa Fe in November 2006.

The Santa Fe New Mexican, April 18, 2004, featured a front page article with Melnick’s photographs of eleven women of Los Alamos during World War II.

Melnick studied photography with Siegfried Halus, Norman Mauskopf and Andre Ruesch of Santa Fe and continues with Miguel Gandert, University of New Mexico. In the past she participated in workshops in the U.S. and Mexico with Mary Ellen Mark and Eugene Richards, among others.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in counseling, and taught at Santa Fe Community College. aj Melnick is listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who in the West, Marquis’ Who’s Who of American Women,  and Marquis’ Who’s Who in America.