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"There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."

- Aldous Huxley

LACMA & BCAM Sunday

One of the best things about living in Los Angeles is that I can always go to a selection of museums and galleries on a whim, since everything is a stone throw away. A few weeks back, after an extended work week, Dave and I decided that we should go to LACMA and check out the newly opened, Broad Contemporary Art Museum. 'lo and behold, apparently after 5 PM, admission to LACMA is "pay what you wish" (aka if you're broke, you don't gotta pay a dime).

The museum doesn't close til 8 PM on Sundays, tho we got there two hours before closing time and it was certainly not enough to cover all grounds, we did get to enjoy a few things. It was the opening day for Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement and we just barely missed the opening day crowd. Among the various work shown in different forms and medium, my favorite has to be those of Julio C. Morales. He did a series of drawing showing various immigrant smuggling methods. I thought that he was successfully able to highlight the subject matter and address it in the form of beautiful drawings. I sneakily took some pics (in a very low lighted room, of course):



From there, we headed out to BCAM, afraid that we're running out of time. We spent sometime outside admiring the building and outdoor installations. Inside, we weren't allowed to take any photos and were told to maintain a 5-feet-minimum distance from the art work. Here in BCAM, almost everything you've learned or heard of in Modern American Art History were on display. Warhol's, Koons', Basquiat, Lichtenstein,... a whole wall of Barbara Kruger's, which you can read by going on the large, glass elevator, and the list goes on. It was a little too overwhelming to try and absorb everything all at once. These are some of the legendary artwork I'm familiar with, which otherwise I see only in books, and they were right there.

Much to my delight, on the lower level, I came across a whole section devoted to my favorite photographer EVERRRR.. Cindy Sherman. I've admired her work for a long while now, I've saved up money in college to buy her books, and now I've seen them up close and personal. Her work has always intrigued me as they resemble characters or scenes from an absurd movie (read: David Lynch's) or a bad dream. There's a certain uneasiness and sarcasm to them that I haven't seen in many other photographers' work. I certainly didn't spend enough time in her section, but I plan to return and be awed soon.

The current collection exhibited belongs to the Broad family. If you lived in a suburban area, I'm sure you are familiar with KB Homes, a housing developer company famous for its track homes. For folks whose business is mass producing boxy, Monopoly-like homes, they sure have got some fine taste in art. If only they could apply their eyes for aesthetics towards their own products...

Kids with Cameras

Whenever I'm restless, I like to go through my old bookmarks. Tonight, I gladly came across one of my forgotten links: Kids with Cameras.

Kids with Cameras is a photography project that started in Calcutta's red-light district. The project was started by a photographer named, Zana Briski. With the help of other photographers, she teaches photography and gives cameras to unfortunate kids in order to capture their imaginations, "empower them, building confidence, self-esteem and hope." The project was also made into a 2005-Academy-Award-winning documentary film called, Born Into Brothels.


The first time I stumbled upon it, the workshop was only happening in Calcutta. I found out now they have set up workshops in Haiti, Jerusalem, and Cairo. Other similar workshops also flourished all around the world. Although, they have yet to start one in Indonesia. Someone should start it! You can now also purchase large sized prints from the website, while before they're only selling the book and the dvd. According to the site, "All net proceeds from sales of the children's photos go to support their education and well-being."


Each one of the kids' profiles are on the website. So, anyone could learn about them while looking through their photographs. I really think these photographs served their purposes and more. Not only that they captured their daily life, they also transformed them into beautiful images, with energy and sincerity we don't normally see in commercial photography. After all, these photographs are purely from the kids' imagination, something that modern technology and adult minds combined can never surpass.