mission paths
The library's Department of Archives and Special Collections teams up with the Department of Art and Art History to study L.A. then and now.
The city of Los Angeles is known for many things, but its sense of history is not one of them. However, LMU's collaborative exhibition "Side by Side: Images of a Changing Los Angeles" (on display at the Von der Ahe Library until March 23), seeks to find continuity in a city that is constantly shifting its look.
"Los Angeles seems to always be trying to reinterpret and reinvent itself," said Diane Meyer, assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History, in the College of Communication and Fine Arts. "We wanted to document its changes [through photography]."
The exhibition features postcards of Los Angeles from the library's Department of Archives and Special Collections juxtaposed with contemporary photographs taken by students in Meyer's Color Photography course. For Meyer, it was a way that she and her 25 students could learn more about Los Angeles and its history, and make the city part of her classroom.
"This city isn't set up to be explored and a lot of people don't interact with it outside of their own space," Meyer said. "We wanted to get out of the one-mile radius of LMU and really look at Los Angeles."
Students traveled around the city to photograph the exact locations depicted on the library's postcards. But capturing the same image decades later was a challenge. Blanca Pauliukevicius, who was enrolled in the course, had to search for the original location of St. Vincent's College, LMU's precursor. To her surprise, she found that it had been renovated into a jewelry gallery.
"In the postcard, St. Vincent's College was surrounded by wide streets and empty streets," Pauliukevicius said. "Today, the streets are so narrow and crowded that I had to climb over a wall and push my back against a fence to get the right shot."
Discrepancies between the representation of Los Angeles in a postcard and today's reality were common. A postcard depicting MacArthur Park conveyed it as manicured and pristine, whereas the photograph revealed it as covered in graffiti, filled with smog and crowded with people and traffic.
"The postcard was a souvenir item that idealized Los Angeles and often projected it as a paradise," Meyer said. "The photos added a more real-life dynamic [to that idea]."
The exhibition marks the first collaborative exhibition between the library's archives and special collections department and an academic department.
"It was the first time students were assigned to create art rather than using the department solely as an intellectual resource," said Cynthia Becht, head of archives and special collections. "Exhibits are an easier way for students to apply their own creativity to the collection."
Future plans for the exhibition are being considered, and both Becht and Meyer hope to keep working on it.
"Just like the city is always in flux, so is this project," Meyer said. "It's definitely a good seed for future projects."