A born-and-bred downtown New Yorker now living in the Boston area,
selections from “9/12:The Daze After,” Ms. Comstock’s images
of the
World Trade Center disaster, have been featured at the Museum of Modern Art
as part of this spring’s Here Is New York show, as well as at the original
downtown exhibit and website that has raised more than $600,000 for relief
organizations. One of her images has also just been chosen from a field of
5,000 as one of only 30 for projection and exhibition in Times Square by
Mme. Tussaud’s Museum. Photographs from the series are included in the
Museum of the City of New York’s Virtual Union Square, have been exhibited
at the Pen Women Show at New York’s Pen & Brush Club and were featured
as
posters at Boston's Wang Center benefit for the Clinton/Dole chaired
Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund.
Previous themes have included Vermont and Cape landscapes, unusual signs of
the times, “Carnivals, Kites and Clowns”and a series focused on
political
campaigns, the latter two having much in common. Experiencing photography
as
the opposite of writing, Mirana grabs shots on location with minimal post
production that would filter or affect the immediacy of the original
experience. Although verbal and storytelling content are a trademark,
because so much of writing is editing, the goal is to keep this creative
expression as spontaneous and journalistic as possible.
In addition to majoring in Art History at NYU, Mirana also studied
Directing for Film and Television at NYU Film School. Collaborating with
Boston writer Liz Joyce, she has earned top screenwriting awards at prestigious
film festivals, including Best Dramatic Screenplay at the Burbank International
Children’s Film Festival in 2001, Platinum and Gold Medals at Worldfest,
as
well as honors at New Century Writers Awards and the Santa Clarita
International Film Festival. The team is currently under contract with
Los Angeles management firm Careyes Entertainment to bring these scripts
to the big screen. A member of the Massachusetts Media Alliance, Mirana has
had considerable press for both screenwriting and her work to end the cruelty
of greyhound racing, with interviews and articles in such publications as
the
Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, Boston Herald and Patriot Ledger.
As a copywriter on Madison Avenue and in the Boston area, Mirana has created
award-winning television, radio, print and online ads for such clients as
Coppertone, Air Canada, Seagram’s, JBL, Talbots and the Arts and
Entertainment Network, including a Gold Medal at the International Radio
Festival for Sharp and ANDY Awards for Coppertone and Crown Royal.
Trained at New York’s Music and Art, Juilliard, Lee Strasberg and
HB Studios, Mirana was the lead singer and co-writer of critically acclaimed
indie bands on the club scene. Collaborating with guitar player and husband
Rick Comstock, their self-produced albums and videos aired on New York and
college radio, MTV and film soundtracks. They continue to write and record
in their in-home digital studio.