Silent city

Hollywood Sign I, Hollywood Hills, 2017

The documentation of the American landscape is a firmly established practice in American photography, both past and present. The city of New York, for example, has found itself subject to the scrutinising eyes of many artists, including Helen Levitt, Richard Sadler and Matt Weber. Equally, Stephen Shore and Walker Evans have amply documented the often mundane suburban and rural slices of life that make up large swathes of the country. The most famous of these figures is, of course, Ansel Adams whose images of California have become influential to generations of artists. However, within the state of California there lies a city that despite its fame remains largely unexplored through the eyes of contemporary photographers.

It may seem odd to suggest that Los Angeles is photographically under-represented, but a look through the medium’s history reveals it has been somewhat overlooked is a work worth seeking out. This under-representation makes sense in many ways. Despite its beautiful architecture and light, Los Angeles is a city designed to be viewed on the fly; it’s a landscape often viewed as a blur through the car windscreen as commuters drive from home to work and back again. To travel through LA on foot is almost unheard of (the writer Will Self tried it once or twice without much success). Photography, particularly landscape photography, requires studied meditation, time and patience. It requires legs.