Alyssa Rosenheck
Alyssa Rosenheck, a self-taught interiors and architectural photographer, first picked up her camera seven years ago while she was healing from cancer.Her intention was to find a form of catharsis after receiving the frightening diagnosis, but instead she found her life’s purpose.
“My camera was a tool,” Rosenheck says. “It liberated me and connected me to a completely different life that I never thought would ever happen. It connected me to my dreams.”
One of those dreams is to use her creative gifts to cultivate community and cultural awareness. She hopes to do that through her first book, The New Southern Style, out Sept. 22. Wrapped inside the 320-page publication is a collection of conversations and home tours with 31 creative entrepreneurs, artists, activists, chefs, designers, makers, and authors who are reimagining Southern design and culture.
Nashville has a strong representation in the book but Rosenheck also highlights individuals living everywhere from New Orleans to Baltimore and beyond as part of her ambition to unify communities of people who have old and new ties to the South.
>>> Purchase tickets to Alyssa Rosenheck's Virtual Book Tour and Fireside Chat
Alyssa Rosenheck
Readers can expect to see Rosenheck’s visually stunning imagery of people and interior spaces, but the photographer hopes the book will do more than inspire the four walls of their homes. She wants them to discover a deeper message behind the book, which she describes as being part of a movement she founded focused on community, creativity, and connection.
“I work, live, and breathe in an industry that really celebrates style,” Rosenheck says. “Yes, that moves me, but this [book] is a celebration of both style and substance. I wanted to bring the conversation of substance to the table and humanize our differences. Creativity is a really good conduit to that.”
Rosenheck says her experiences as a young girl ignited her activism. The cultural differences within her family, along with life-changing moments in which she says she was made to feel “different,” instilled in her a need to celebrate unity and acceptance. Although she is from Tulsa, Rosenheck says she feels a deep connection to the South.
“I have my own personal experiences, but the way I can pursue my love and my activism and my desire to be an agent of change is through my gifts; to be that visual storyteller and to have my images be a lighter conduit into race and social justice and equality,” she says.
The topics in the book are as diverse as the world Rosenheck wishes to inhabit. She uses her visual storytelling skills to “break misconceptions” around Southern style. Her book offers six different “new southern” design genres, including laid-back, coastal, collected, preppy, minimal, and playful.
“I feel like, traditionally, Southern roots were grounded in the strict formality and this sense of exclusiveness. Things meant to not be touched in the home; words meant to be heard and never repeated or explored. Appearance [was] really meant to be buttoned up,” she says.
Alyssa Rosenheck
“That old guard is out of this book. This book is really taking a deep breath in and finding a very large exhale out within the rooms that are seen in this project. It’s about inclusivity and it’s about creativity fueling this energy of the South, and it’s really about the voices inspiring this movement.”
Before becoming a photographer, Rosenheck had a successful corporate career working for two Fortune 100 companies. She says it was during that time that she learned how to be a businesswoman. Now as a creative entrepreneur she wears many professional hats, not just as a photographer, but also as an author, speaker, stylist, and lifestyle expert. Her work has been published in numerous magazines, including Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Domino Magazine, and Southern Living.
Rosenheck says she is excited to see her latest work released into the world and is preparing for a virtual book tour.
“I’m looking forward to having [the book] be welcomed in other people’s homes and having them make it their own, and I hope it’s of service to them,” she says. “I look forward to seeing it touch the hearts of women in this country. I hope it continues to inspire them to step into their truth and their beauty and their unique gifts. We all have them, and it’s when we embrace them that we are able to help continue to heal our world.”