We were assigned a project on due on the first real day of studio (!!!) which required that we walk a street, in this case Hoover Street north of campus, and abstractly document the nature of the urban geography through our own individual perceptions. I chose to focus on graffiti, which plays a large role as a means of communication in urban subculture in Los Angeles. The graphics are themed to that effect. I assigned single words to images based on the intent or construct of the graffiti, and posed questions seeking additional insight.
The major critique of this sort of diagram, whose focus is primarily artistic, personal, and social, is that it doesn't convey in useful statistical or demographic data. Granted. I didn't put in the effort to truly "map" each occurrence, but in a sense my professor was right in another comment that he made, that each project is highly autobiographical. I am more interested in the personal. What are the people like? What is the "vibe" of the space? That's more the focus of this blog and my work. So I'll take the criticism.
I could write a lot about the neighborhood but I'll save that for another time. I can say that Hoover Street from USC to Wilshere Blvd consists primarily of low-income immigrant communities from Korea and Central America above the 110 and USC housing/buildings below. The northern section is also notorious for its high incidence of crime. Here's the location if you're curious.
bugh all i can tell from dat picture is dat deres a pepboys near yo college
ReplyDeleteahah dat is true you are correct
ReplyDeleteOne Wilshire is the block they filmed quite a bit of Inception on...(i see wilshire blvd on the map)
ReplyDeleteFollow that intuition!
Wilshire runs from downtown all the way to the coast, so it will take awhile to explore! I did drive by the premiere for "Machete" last night...looked like a fun event. People everywhere. I'll be following my intuition. My problem right now is I am so technologically deficient, I'll be playing catch up for awhile.
ReplyDelete