Photo from the streets are calling
Puncher NBC by the streets are calling
Published: May 8, 2010
los angeles Archive
Jonas Lara Legal Defense Fund
Published: May 1, 2010
This does not have much to do with Danish graffiti, but there are probably many people who will find it interesting to know about this case. A LA based photographer, Jonas Lara got arrested while photographing Graffiti writers breaking the law.
I’m an artist and photographer who was arrested while working on a long term project. This body of work involves documenting artists both in their lives and in the process of their artwork.
On February 4th 2010, I was photographing 2 graffiti artists painting a mural in Los Angeles. I was arrested and initially charged with Felony Vandalism. My cameras, my tools with which I earn a living were taken as evidence. My charges were later lowered to a Misdemeanor and the changed to “Aiding and Abetting” which carries the same sentence as the crime of Vandalism/Graffiti. I have gone through the several stages of this case and my next step is the Jury Trial. If I lose my case I can face up to a Year in Jail and have my license suspended.
I need your help raising money to cover costs to hire a private attorney and related legal expenses. Anything helps !
I served in the Marine Corps (Service Connected Disabled Veteran) Graduated from Art Center College of Design / BFA in Photography Recently accepted into The School of Visual Art / MFA Program. Part of the artist portrait series was featured in an Exhibition put together by the Cultural Affairs Department of Los Angeles.
When you do graffiti you know it is a crime. It being a crime to watch graffiti in progress is a whole different thing though. The case is pretty far away, but I guess joining the facebook group or spreading the word is doing something.
From facebook via photoattorney.com
jonaslara.com – blog
Armsrock exhibit in LA photo’s
Published: March 14, 2010
Vandalog made a little report from Armsrock and Imminent Disaster’s show in Los Angeles.
More @ vandalog.com
Dangling shoes also part of broken windows theory
Published: February 6, 2010
Los Angeles Times writes about dangling shoes in Long beach, California.
Some people say the suspended sneakers, high-tops and boots mark a place where drugs are sold. Other lore holds they commemorate a killing, mark gang territory or vow retaliation.
Others insist throwing shoes tied together by their laces over a wire is just a kid’s prank, an effort to leave a mark that’s as pointless as sticking gum under a table.
Some City councilmen wants to set up a shoe remove service, like graffiti removing service’s known around the world.
“It’s nothing but a blight. Look what it does to community, to property values,” said Councilman Dee Andrews[...]. “If you see one tennis shoe hanging off a wire and you don’t do anything about it, you’re going to see another, and another, and you’re opening up the floodgates.”
In present time it is the company who owns the power lines, that is responsible for taking the shoes down, but it is no easy task figuring out who owns which power lines.
Figuring out who should get them down is such a puzzle that after one recent complaint, city officials gave up and dispatched the Fire Department to take down one pair with a ladder truck.
City officials see the dangling shoe problem much like graffiti.
It’s an urban ill cities nationwide have tried to eliminate, particularly since the “broken windows” theory of crime prevention took hold in the late 1990s. The thinking was that if vandalism such as a broken window was left unrepaired, a neighborhood would slowly decay and fall victim to more serious crimes.
From Los Angeles Times
LA gang tours has begun
Published: January 17, 2010
New York times published two articles in connection with the first bus tour of some of LA’s gang area’s. The tour is organized by former gang members who have mediated a cease fire agreement between the gangs in the tours area, South Central.
Borrowing a bit from the Hollywood star tours, the grit of the streets and a dash of hype, LA Gang Tours is making its debut on Saturday, a 12-stop, two-hour journey through what its organizer calls “the history and origin of high-profile gang areas and the top crime-scene locations” of South Los Angeles. By Friday afternoon, the 56-seat coach was nearly sold out.
The tour stops will include the Los Angeles river bed where “a brief tagging class on the origin and different style of tagging and L.A. graffiti will be given.”
The odds of seeing an actual gang member on the street at the appointed hour — Saturday morning — are low, though Mr. Lomas said four or five members will be on the bus to keep watch and offer their stories.
The tour ends at Pico Union Graff Lab, a legal graffiti wall. Which is also the only place on the tour the organizers will allow you to take photos.
In order to get on the bus everybody has to sign a waiver. Here is a an excerpt from that waiver.
[...] the Tour is inherently dangerous, involving substantial risks including, but not limited to, the risk of death, personal injury, and/or property damage [...] AND THAT I VOLUNTARILY EXPOSE MYSELF TO SUCH RISK BY ACCOMPANYING, OR PARTICIPATING IN, THE TOUR.
If anybody is in the area and wants to give it a try, it is 65$ and the next tour is scheduled for the 20th of February.
New York times articles: 1 -- 2
LA Gang Tours.
Pico Union Graff Lab’s myspace.
Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti in Los Angeles review
Published: January 17, 2010
After the book run through 5 days ago by graffhead here is an actual review from the San Gabriel Valley tribune. And its a very positive one.
The photographs that are the core of the book are remarkable. And what is remarkable about the book overall is that the images of graffiti are the catalyst for a sweeping exposition of the social and political history of Mexican Americans. Chastanet and Gribble generally succeed in illuminating these issues through the phenomenon of cholo writing. Yet, the book bogs down when the narrative veers from accessible historiography into a questionable sociology-tinged explication of “what all this means.” A bit too academic.
But, on balance, it’s a readable, visually engaging book that will let you know a bit more about urban Chicanos than you probably knew. And, whether you regard it as art of a public nuisance (or perhaps both), it’s worth learning about.
Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti in Los Angeles[youtube]
Published: January 12, 2010
If you have considered buying Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti in Los Angeles from Dokument Press then graffhead.com has made a video to help you make up your mind. As well as a short review here.
The book is full of pictures of gang graffiti taken in the streets of Los Angeles, as early as, 1962. Co-author/photographer, Howard Gribble describes his motivation and method for taking the pictures. He, as well, describes many of the pictures featured in the book.
Buy from dokument for 198 SEK.
Review at graffhead.com.
