Viewpoints
+ publication
viewpoints is a visual and critical investigation of how Los Angeles has been represented, documented, and understood across time. Bridging physical maps, digital tools like Google Maps, historical archives, and personal collections, the book explores how different forms of media shape our perception of place.
Rather than aiming to capture a singular truth, viewpoints documents how representations, from social media posts, to satellite maps, construct various memories of the city. In this way, documentation becomes an active, interpretive process, not only recording but reshaping a landscape.
page count: 350 pages
production: smyth sewn binding & pantone spot color
vellum insert sheet
The 3rd chapter challenges colonial cartography by centering Indigenous mapping traditions rooted in memory, culture, and relational knowledge of the land.
Through personal collections—from Instagram feeds to photos of mundane objects—the 4th chapter examines how individual memories shape collective portraits of the city.
Investigating theories of simulation and representation, the last chapter considers how Los Angeles blurs the line between constructed image and lived reality, with iconic signs like the Hollywood and Beverly Hills signs standing in as symbols for entire places.
The silver background mimics a continuous digital surface that connects chapters like open windows on a desktop. It represents the interfaces we use to view and interpret the city: maps, browsers, screenshots.