Artist Statement
Ghost Town
Ventura Boulevard is a study in cognitive dissonance; a vortex of immense activity within a startling emptiness. Stretching 18 miles, the Boulevard is the world’s longest continuous retail corridor, serving more than three million residents. Its nearly 4,000 businesses employ over 27,000 people, generating $1.4 billion in payroll and an estimated $10 billion in annual revenue. Yet despite this remarkable economic vitality, one can drive for miles through many parts of the Boulevard and count the number of pedestrians on one hand.
Ghost Town is a photographic diptych that explores the fragmentation and isolation of a vital post-COVID Los Angeles suburb. Ventura Boulevard is a visual mash-up of color, typography, signage, and architecture. By isolating these elements from their geographic context, Ghost Town reduces the Boulevard to fragments of shape and color. The images are intentionally incomplete, oversaturated, and disjointed, mirroring both the sensory overload of the Boulevard and the disconnected emptiness that underlies much of contemporary Los Angeles.