Tag Archives: Los Angeles

Trayvon Martin protest: Photography student Kit Sinclair embeds himself on the front lines of the battle for justice

We first glimpsed the images above by chance, as Photography instructor Tony Di Zinno and student Kit Sinclair were reviewing the project in the cafeteria at South Campus. We were immediately struck by the bold and viscerally affecting quality of the shots Sinclair captured while attending a protest the night the Trayvon Martin verdict was rendered. Sinclair had been working closely with Di Zinno, a renowned sports photographer, in a class entitled, Project Photo: Sport, which focuses on navigating the intersection of sports, politics and art. “The culture of sport relates to conflict in many ways,” explains Di Zinno. “The Olympics are a thing of beauty – but also form of surrogate warfare. In this class we reflect on how examples of how sport acts as a mirror in reflecting ourselves as societies. We examine seminal figures like Mohammed Ali whose iconic LIFE magazine image by civil rights photographer Flip Schulke is featured on the profile of our Art Center-Sports class facebook page. Kit’s protest coverage was squarely in the tradition of the concerned photographer. We see in his images moments reminiscent of Sixties symbols of protest – which led in turn to class discussions of  visual literacy and image as art reference in terms of a so-called ‘black power’ salute by Tommy Smith and John Carlos on the 200m medal stand in the ’68 Olympic games.” 

“The larger point to me as an educator is to support these emerging artists,” continues Di Zinno, who co-teaches the class with Andy Bernstein, who shoots for the NBA and NHL. We are reminded by Kit’s work not to be too isolated in our silos of higher learning. But to realize that we are all indeed citizens and participants… and to learn to apply critical thinking. To dare and go see for ourselves. To take time to consider and deliberate in how to apply what we learned. Perhaps,most importantly – to share what we did learn with others.”

In the above gallery and blog post below, Sinclair incorporates each of these strands into a series of arresting photographs, that simultaneously call out for our attention and compassion.

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But Where are the Flying Cars?

What will the Los Angeles skyline look like in 2030?

Newsweek asked three well-known architecture firms—Michael Maltzan Architecture, cityLAB UCLA and Gensler—to envision the future for this fun interactive feature. There aren’t flying cars from The Jetsons like we expected, but some pretty neat features nonetheless.

“A future Los Angeles … will alter today’s predominant subdivision, tract-home, and automobile monoculture into a more multicultural, multimodal, interconnected, and sustainable modern city,” wrote the Maltzan team.

Read more at Culture Monster: Architects imagine Los Angeles in 2030

The History of Art, Through the Lens of Los Angeles

An interesting post today at The Huffington Post’s new L.A. section by Michael Govan, director of the LACMA, about the distinct style of art that has come out of Los Angeles.

Govan writes: “Art history can be broken into distinctions of time, but also of place. One can discern differences of style and influence, for instance, between 17th Century French painting and that of Italy. So too have distinctions in American art become apparent in the twentieth century when looking at the artists of New York and those of California.”

The article also mentions Art Center alumnus and sculptor Jorge Pardo and his recent pre-Columbian art installation at LACMA.

Read more: The History of Art, Through the Lens of Los Angeles