Exhibitions, Publications and Awards
Read More
The Malibu Times - July 2022
Malibu-focused photo Series on display at Santa Monica Mountains Visitor Center
The Malibu Times - July 2022
Malibu-focused photo Series on display at Santa Monica Mountains Visitor Center
By Emmanuel Luissi
Award-winning photographer Jazan Kozma was present at Anthon C. Beilenson Interagency Visitor Center on July 9 to meet guests who were there to see her “Keep It Wild” photograph series.
The “Keep It Wild” series is an ongoing project focused on exploring the natural wonders of the mountains an oceans in the Malibu area.
Kozma said her years-long series has been about encouraging conservation of the open spaces of park lands in the Santa Monica Mountains and Malibu area. “I try to show people the beauty that we have here. I hope it encourages them to want to protect it and support our public lands. It’s terribly important,” Kozma said. “We have something that is slowly fading away and hopefully we can stop it.” She said her goal is to document Malibu’s most unexplored areas and present the area in a manner that shows its most undisturbed natural beauty. “ I find that places that are least visited are the most pristine,” Kozma said. “In many ways, I’m trying to portray Malibu how it once was. Few, less people, more Eden-like. It’s all under-photographed. I have the chance to discover places through the eye of a lens.”
The exhibit features scenic photos from across all of Malibu, including areas like Malibu Creek State Park, El Matador State Beach, Point Dume Natural Preserve, and Escondido Falls in the Santa Monica Mountains. Her artistic process requires her to be sensitive to her surroundings and be open to exploring nature off-trail. She also utilizes her mountain climbing skills as well as practicing protective measures for keeping her camera from breaking on climbs or falling in water. Her work also captures wildlife in their natural habitats, with shots of sea lions, bobcats, deer, and a variety of birds. She hopes her photos of these animals living and surviving in this shared habitat also help preserve wildlife in the Malibu area. She says it is concerning how some residents fail to coexist with these native animals. “ We’ve had problems with the bobcats and some of the other apex predators due to some of the homeowners using rat poi on”, Kozma said. “It basically breaks down their immune system and the animals end up with mange. There’s nothing sadder than photographing a bobcat with mange; it breaks your heart.”
Kozma said that an interesting part of her work has been learning and understanding the behaviors and moods of the wildlife. She said she has not yet been able to photograph a mountain lion, but the possibility would come with serious risk. Kozma explained that she hs had one experience with a mountain lion just after the Woolsey Fire, saying it was a sobering experience. She described the lion’s roar as loud and intimidating as those from an African lion, and said that the predator stalked her through the brush as she hiked. She said she was fortunate to run into a large group of hikers that she believes discouraged the animal from attacking.
The Woolsey Fire also gave way to an interesting period in Kozma’s work. She explained that storms in the months after the fire introduced new life and beauty in the area. “As terrible as that fire was, the aftermath of seeing this area come back to life was actually incredibly special and this was one of the most fun times with my camera. It lifted my soul, it gave me hope.” Kozma said.
Photographer and local resident Robert Fisher visited the exhibit for the second time and met with the artist after seeing her work the eek prior. He was impressed by Kozma’s ability to capture the beauty of Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains. “I am in awe of everything she’s displayed. She brought a new dimension to what is available to all of us here,” Fisher said.
Sophia Wong, store and events manager of Western National Parks at the Santa Monica Recreational Area, helped organize the event and said Kozma is an amazing photographer, and her work presents a unique view of the nature of the area. She explained that the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is the largest urban national park in the United States and she
believes Kozma’s work is important in presenting all of the beauty that this area has to offer. “We have over six hundred miles of hiking and when residents come here and visit our exhibit they’ll see sites that are so close to their homes but they don’t even know that they exist.” Wong said. “We’re hopefully going to create stewards for the national parks, particularly for the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area.
Kozma’s work is available for purchase at the exhibit and a portion of the funds from the art sales will be used to support local art and cultural programs. Her work is being displayed as an exhibit at the center through the rest of the month. the exhibit began on July 2 and will run through July 30.
Keep It Wild! Malibu’s Mountains and Ocean - Artist’s Reception
Keep It Wild! Malibu’s Mountains and Ocean 2022
Photography Exhibit & Sale By Jazan Kozma
Meet the Artist Reception: Saturday, July 9th, 1-3 PM (Refreshments will be served)
Presented by the Santa Monica Mountains Interagency Visitor Center, King Gillette Ranch.
The show will run from July 2nd to July 30th, Wed thru Sun 9am - 4pm
Photographer Jazan Kozma’s Keep It Wild series is an ongoing project focused on exploring the natural wonders of the mountains and ocean here in the Malibu area. An award-winning photographer, her work is shown and collected nationally, and is in both public and private collections. “My mission is to reveal the beauty of the land and ocean, the animals, and the cultural landscape of ancient peoples - to photograph the still -wild places that exist even within view of our domesticated world.” J.K.
A portion of the funds from art sales will be used to further the arts in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
Santa Monica Mountains Interagency Visitor Center
King Gillette Ranch
26876 Mulholland Hwy.
Calabasas, CA 91302
805-370-2302
No reservations are necessary.Keep It Wild Malibus Mountains and OceanPhotography Exhibit Sale By Jazan KozmaMeet the Artist Reception SaturdayJuly 9th 20221 to 3 PMPresented by the Santa Monica Mountains Interagency Visitor CenterKing Gillette RanchThe show will run from July 2nd to July 30thWed thru Sun 9am to 4pm
Black & White Magazine 2021 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan Kozma.
Black White MagazineBlack White Magazine 2021 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan KozmaAnimalsSeascapeWaterSpecial Issue Contest WinnersJazan Kozma Photography
Black & White Magazine - 2020 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan Kozma.
Black & White Magazine 2020 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan Kozma.
Black White MagazineBlack White Magazine 2020 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan KozmaLandscapeNatureSeascapeWaterSpecial Issue Contest WinnersJazan Kozma Photography
All Creatures Great & Small 2019 - Photography Exhibit & Sale
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2019
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2019, Competion Winner - Honorable Mention, Professional: Fine Art, Landscape
IPA Int'l Photography Awards 2019Competion WinnerJazan Kozma Photography
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2019
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2019, Competion Winner - Honorable Mention, Professional: Fine Art, Landscape
IPA Int'l Photography Awards 2019Competion WinnerJazan Kozma Photography
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2019
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2019, Competion Winner - Honorable Mention, Professional: Fine Art, Landscape
IPA Int'l Photography Awards 2019Competion WinnerJazan Kozma Photography
Language Of Color 2019 - Photography Exhibit & Sale
Black & White Magazine 2019 Contest Winner Jazan Kozma, Catagory: Landscape/Nature
Black White Magazine 2019 Contest Winner Jazan KozmaCatagory LandscapeNatureEastern SierraCaliforniaJazan Kozma Photography
Restored Chumash pictographs, photos of Malibu’s beauty displayed in NPS exhibit
August 14, 2018
Restored Chumash pictographs, photos of Malibu’s beauty displayed in NPS exhibit
Barbara Burke, Freelance Reporter, Malibu Surfside News
10:56 am PDT August 14, 2018
“My mission is to reveal beauty, of the land and ocean, the animals and the cultural landscape of ancient peoples,” Jazan Kozma said.
At an artist’s reception for “Keep it Wild! Malibu’s Mountains and Ocean,” an exhibit by photographer and Chumash pictograph illustrator Jazan Kozma at King Gillette Ranch on Aug. 5, attendees viewed innovative artistic explorations depicting the natural phenomena amid the mountains and the oceans.
Kozma strives to document and celebrate the status quo of Malibu’s special environs, its creatures, features, flora and fauna. She uses her lens to preserve the phenomena that make Malibu wonderful.
“Each work is indescribably beautiful,” attendee John Melton said. “One feels as if each picture captures the essence of the subject and that the viewer is part of the image.”
Kozma takes her time when she lines up a shot. Her captured image is designed to allow a viewer to feel like a part of the action of a fleeting moments forever etched in her creative captures.
When Hurricane Marie hit the Malibu Pier in 2014, Kozma was there, capturing a wipeout by a death-defying surfer who lived to tell the tale but might not be able to recount it as colorfully as Kozma’s shot. A viewer almost can hear the surfer shouting mid-air. Kozma also shows surfers hunkered below the Malibu Farm Pier Cafe, which also survived the onslaught.
Moments in Malibu’s mountains mystify Kozma, who cherishes photographing the area’s natural features. The sea also beckons Kozma, who often manages to capture images of pelicans, cormorants and sea lions on the rocks of Point Dume.
Kozma’s other fascination offers the piece de resistance of the exhibit. Two colorful, restored pictograph images of Chumash cave art beckon viewers. Kozma painstakingly restored the pigment on the panels from cave art she will only vaguely describe as “somewhere near Point Mugu.”
One such work took her a full year — more than 300 labor-intensive hours — to create. “Birth of a Shaman,” a 24-inch-by-24-inch piece depicting a Chumash shaman’s attire, demeanor and aura, emulates one of the panels that has survived best. Such rock paintings were sacred to the Chumash.
The location of the original pictographs must remain secret so they are not defaced. Archeologists, paleontologists, geologists and historians struggle to preserve them. Kozma has painstakingly tried to depict their original vibrancy and hues, utilizing a digital restoration proprietary method that she also keeps secret.
“Look carefully here,” Kozma told viewers. “This is the only glyph (on a second panel not shown above) that illustrates a severed right hand. Our understanding is: at the last moment of battle, the victor took a relic similar to folklore about the victor taking a scalp. In this culture, they took a severed right hand.
“Look yet closer here on the left. They believed that members of their nobility were spiritual and their hearts shot out as starlight. Look at the light emanating here that is akin to starlight.”
Juxtaposed next to another of Kozma’s Chumash pictograph renditions from the Carrizo Plain is a photograph of a Chumash shaman from the 1870s. The image depicts the special jewels, headdress and accoutrement worn only by such men.
The Chumash left some hints about their ancient society and ways, captured in the cave pictographs, but we are left to wonder what many of their images and symbols meant. Some of the rock art shows evidence of overpainting — newer images were placed atop the ancients’ original pictographs, a placard adjacent to the work informs.
That is the essence of Kozma’s exhibition thesis: “Man, always in a hurry and often not thinking long term, ought not paint over, pave over or overlook the beauty and essence of Malibu’s magnificence — and its history.”
The exhibit is to remain on display daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through Sept. 2, 2018.
For more information on Kozma, visit http://www.jazankozmaphotography.com.
Written By Barbara Burke, Freelance Reporter, Malibu Surfside News
Keep It Wild! 2018 - Photography Exhibit & Sale
Black & White Magazine 2018 Contest Winner Jazan Kozma, Catagory: Animals
Black White Magazine 2018 Contest Winner Jazan KozmaCatagory AnimalsJazan Kozma Photography
Keep It Wild! 2017 - Photography Exhibit & Sale
Photography Review by fellow artist Alex Stenzel - 2017
Black & White Magazine 2017 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan Kozma.
Black White Magazine 2017 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan KozmaLandscapeNatureSeascapeWaterJazan Kozma Photography
Keep It Wild! 2017 - Photography Exhibit & Sale
Black & White Magazine 2016 Contest Winner Jazan Kozma, Catagory: Landscape/Nature
Black White Magazine 2016 Contest Winner Jazan KozmaCatagory LandscapeNatureLenticular CloudBishopCaliforniaJazan Kozma Photography
Keep It Wild! 2016 - Photography Exhibit & Sale
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2015
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2015, Competion Winner - Honorable Mention, Non-Professional: Editorial, Sports
IPA Int'l Photography Awards 2015Competion WinnerJazan Kozma Photography
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2015
IPA - Int'l Photography Awards 2015, Competion Winner - Honorable Mention, Non-Professional: Deeper Perspective
IPA Int'l Photography Awards 2015Competion WinnerJazan Kozma Photography
Angeleno Magazine October Issue 2015
Angeleno Magazine October Issue 2015; Jay Luchs Residential and Commercial Real Estate Advertisement - Detail from 'Huricane Marie 2014 Series' - Jazan Kozma Photography
Angeleno Magazine October Issue 2015Jay Luchs Residential and Commercial Real Estate Advertisement Detail from 'Huricane Marie 2014 Series' Jazan Kozma Photography
Malibu Magazine, August 2015 Issue, two page Ad. Photograph by Jazan Kozma from the 'Hurricane Marie' Series.
Malibu MagazineApril 2015 IssueJay LuchsSteven SchaeferNewmark ResidentialReal EstateLos AngelesWestsideJazan Kozma Photography
Malibu Magazine, June 2015 Issue, two page Ad. Photograph by Jazan Kozma from the 'Hurricane Marie' Series.
Malibu MagazineJune 2015 IssueJay LuchsSteven SchaeferNewmark ResidentialReal EstateLos AngelesWestsideJazan Kozma Photography
Excellence Award - Black & White Magazine 2015 Portfolio Contest Winner Jazan Kozma.
Black White Magazine 2015 Portfolio Contest Winner Jazan KozmaExcellence AwardHurricane Marie Malibu 2014Jazan Kozma Photography
Excellence Award - Black & White Magazine 2015 Portfolio Contest Winner Jazan Kozma.
Black White Magazine 2015 Portfolio Contest Winner Jazan KozmaExcellence AwardHurricane Marie Malibu 2014Jazan Kozma Photography
Malibu Magazine, April 2015 Issue. Jay Luchs and Steven Schaefer Residential and Commercial Real Estate Advertisement. Photograph by Jazan Kozma from the 'Hurricane Marie' Series.
Malibu MagazineApril 2015 IssueJay LuchsSteven SchaeferNewmark ResidentialReal EstateLos AngelesWestsideJazan Kozma Photography
Black & White Magazine 2015 Contest Winner Jazan Kozma, Catagory: Animals
Black White Magazine 2015 Contest Winner Jazan KozmaCatagory AnimalsCalifornia Sea LionsPoint Dume Natural ReserveJazan Kozma Photography
Los Angeles Times, Westside Real Estate - Saturday, Jan 31, 2015. Jay Luchs and Steven Schaefer Residential and Commercial Real Estate Advertisement. Photo by Jazan Kozma
Los Angeles TimesWestside Real EstateSaturday Jan 31 2015Jay LuchsSteven SchaeferNewmark ResidentialReal EstateLos AngelesWestsideJazan Kozma Photography
2015 - Juried Exhibition - Southern Nevada Museum Of Fine Art
This Photograph is now part of the Permanent Collection of the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art
Malibu Magazine November Issue 2014
Malibu Magazine November Issue 2014; Jay Luchs Residential and Commercial Real Estate Advertisement - Detail from 'Huricane Marie 2014 Series' - Jazan Kozma Photography
Malibu Magazine November Issue 2014Jay Luchs Residential and Commercial Real Estate Advertisement Detail from 'Huricane Marie 2014 Series' Jazan Kozma Photography
Black & White Magazine 2014 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan Kozma, Catagory: Water
Black White Magazine 2014 Single Image Contest Winner Jazan KozmaCatagory WaterPurling Brook FallsAustraliaJazan Kozma Photography
Volume II – 2014 International Masters of Photography • 10" X 13" Coffee Table Book • Hard Cover with Dust Cover • Case Bound, Smooth Sewn • Square Back Reinforced BindingThe volume series “International Masters of Photography" is devoted exclusively to the art of photography. It is an annual chronicle of what is happening in the art of photography all over the world. Featuring the work of noteworthy photographers, representing as many genres as possible.Available on Amazon.com
2013
Color Magazine 2012 Single Image Contest Winner, Merit Award, Jazan Kozma, Catagory: Water
Color Magazine 2012Single Image Contest WinnerMerit AwardJazan Kozma PhotographyCatagory WaterSweet CreekOregon