While cruising down Los Angeles in a lowrider, a woman with a razor-sharp stare looks out the passenger window. Her dark hair acts as a shield around her face, her fedora sits on top of her head like a crown. Another woman’s identical stare peers out from behind. On the driver’s side sits the matriarch, from whom you know they’ve inherited their stare.
They are suspended in time. They exist in black and white.
“Chicana Soul,” by photographer Frankie Orozco is just one of the photographs depicting Los Angeles culture as part of “An LA Story” on exhibition at Flatline Gallery.
“An LA Story is about cultures that were born in Los Angeles, cultures that are original to here,” Orozco, who curated the exhibition, said.
The exhibition features four photographers whose work gives an inside look into lowrider culture, gang life, and other cultural subsets of the streets of Southeast LA.
Work by Orozco, Suitcase Joe, Gilberto G, and Merrick Morton—who has captured street gangs in LA since the 80s—hangs in the gallery.
Orozco chose to showcase Morton’s photography for its historic value.
“He caught a time period that doesn’t exist anymore in any way, shape or form,” Orozco said. “The photos that he has are straight-up historic, and they can’t be duplicated, and it tells a very deep story of what that part of Los Angeles was at one point in time.”
As both curator of the exhibit and artist, Orozco wanted to showcase these photos as a way to preserve cultures born out of Los Angeles.
“Gentrification is a huge thing that I’m concerned with,” Orozco said. “I know that these cultures are in danger of being erased, whether that’s a good thing or bad thing, they might not be here tomorrow.”
According to a report by listing website Rent Cafe, rent in Los Angeles rose by a dramatic 65% in the last decade. However, family income didn’t rise just as fast, only growing 36%— one of the factors that led to the displacement of Angelenos.
Research from Urban Displacement Project, a group based out of UC Berkeley, showed that Los Angeles County indicated the highest rates of gentrification—with 10% of census tracts classified as “At Risk of Gentrification,” “Early/Ongoing Gentrification,” or “Advanced Gentrification.”
The exhibition also explores homelessness in Los Angeles, a subset of LA’s makeup that Orozco says is ignored.
Capturing life on Skid Row, Suitcase Joe’s photographs detail everyday life in the Downtown LA neighborhood.
Although he has visited the neighborhood for a decade, he began documenting it seven years ago. The more he visited, the more he started getting to know its residents and was eventually entrusted with their stories.
“My perspective on everything changed,” Suitcase Joe said. “I just held a deep connection, basically a deep calling to help give the people a voice down there, because I felt like they are overlooked and misrepresented.”
One of the residents he got to know is Amber, a trans sex worker in Skid Row. She is the subject of one of Suitcase Joe’s photographs titled “Amber at Work.”
In it, Amber stands next to a tagged dumpster as she dons a black crop top and light wash denim shorts. A long white beaded necklace adorns Amber’s neck. She looks down at her balled-up fist.
“Amber has been out here for a few years now working the streets to support her habit,” the photo’s Instagram caption reads. “She says she doesn’t get bothered too much for being transgender but that’s because she can hold her own.”
Suitcase Joe hopes that exposure from the show will help bring awareness to Skid Row and the work of his foundation, which he started to help eliminate homelessness and support mental health reforms for Skid Row. 100% of his profits go to the foundation.
“There’s a lot of local talent here that isn’t represented at these main galleries or museums. And I think it’s a shame,” Orozco said. “As a local I just want to break in and bring as many local artists who still need a platform along with me.”
The photographers are now part of a collective called The LA Six. Part of the collective is also renowned LA photographer Estevan Oriol and Angela Boatwright, director of the documentary film “Los Punks.”
Part of the allure of Flatline Gallery for Orozco was that its owner, Elizabeth Munzon, is a Chicana local who is “letting people like me into the art world,” Orozco said.
Flatline Gallery is located in North Long Beach, an underserved area, whose residents have resonated with the exhibit, according to Munzon, the gallery’s director.
On Sunday, a girl and her mother passed by the gallery and stopped when the girl recognized Suitcase Joe’s photographs. Munzon quickly opened up the gallery to let them browse.
“She really connected with Suitcase Joe because it sounded like at one point, I believe, her and her mom were both homeless on Skid Row,” Munzon said.
The mother was captivated by Merrick Morton’s street photography, often capturing gang life in LA since the 80s.
“The mom was like ‘Oh, yeah I remember back in the day, I used to dress like that, I used to look like that,’ It was nostalgic,” Munzon said.
It was Munzon and Orozco’s mutual admiration for each other’s work that brought this exhibition to the North Long Beach community.
“It’s been a really great response to see how the community really connects to these photographs,” she said.
An LA Story is showing at Flatline Gallery through June 27, by appointment. To keep up with Flatline Gallery, follow them on Instagram @__flatline. To keep up with the LA Six, follow them on Instagram @thelasix
