Héctor Zaldívar › Dead Relatives.

Eleazar.

I moved by myself exclusively for many years. I didn’t want to collab with anyone, I wanted to do it all on my own. That’s a young artist’s game, I feel. When you first get into your art more seriously, you think you’re gonna show everybody – there’s never been a producer, rapper, whatever, that can do it like me.

The deeper you get in the game, you start realizing, damn, a lot of my heroes had teams low-key. Even though on the outside, it looks like one guy. But nobody does anything by themselves – everybody has someone that put them up in their first gallery, gave them their 1st break, gave them their first shot at something greater.

Undertones with Suitcase Joe.

Initially I set out to document Skid Row historically, better than anyone else has. I wanted to thoroughly capture the neighborhood. What I didn’t know would happen, was that I’d fall in love with the people and the place and that it would change my perspective on life all the way around.

POR VIDA CAFÉ.

I hope that we can still be part of this community moving forward, but the future is untold. We don’t know what’s gonna happen when the owner of this building wants to build 4 stories high and put a retail spot under here, probably double or triple our rent. We have a lot to display, but we also have to walk very cordially over the next few years. I predict a big shift coming up. It’s a hard conversation, but I think it’s a conversation that needs to be had now.

FRKO.

Sometimes institutions don’t want my edgy/challenging art. Some of these places want to control what black art is. They only want to show what is comfortable for them.

PHOTOJOURNAL: GUEZ X DEAD RELATIVES. “PLAYA MODE” 11/1/24

When it comes to curating shows, the one thing I try to keep in mind is showcasing a glimpse of my world/reality. Including people is a huge aspect to my life, because our community is what shapes this culture. -GUEZ.

JAVIER CABRAL: Editor-in-Chief of LA Taco, Vox/Guitar in Foolanos.

It’s never about the writer or person creating the journalism. It’s always about the subject, and I feel like that’s been lost.

Dale187. <ESP>

Crecí entre dos costas, Nueva York y Tijuana, Baja California. Hace poco he estado pintando Ciudad de México. Siento que hay mucha más policía en Nueva York y cultura pandillera en California. Tijuana tiene un poco de todo: policía, gánsteres deportados, cárteles, de todo. Viviendo entre ellos fue como visitando crisoles de culturas distintos. Todo lo que he aprendido viajando se ha condensado en un solo nombre, igual que estos lugares.

DALE187.

I grew up between two coasts, NYC and Tijuana, Baja California. Lately I’ve been painting Mexico City. I feel like there’s a lot more police in New York and gang culture in California. Tijuana is a little bit of everything: police, deported gangsters, cartels, everything. Living between them all was like visiting separate, distinct melting pots. Everything I’ve picked up from traveling has all melted down to one name, just like these places.

ALISON BRAUN – Archiving those we loved & lost.

It made me realize that scenes aren’t just built on sound, but on relationships, values, and shared experiences. Interviewing bands shifted them from being subjects in my frame to people with layered stories. I saw how much effort and sacrifice went into touring, recording, surviving — how much of it was done purely out of love for the music and the community.

P.I.G.

I don’t feel obligated to stand for femmes across the board. I believe each of us can do that for ourselves if we feel so compelled. I can be described as an angry woman, but I don’t speak for angry women, I speak for myself and hope it’s cathartic for others. Sometimes I wonder, “Who does my freedom free?” But I do what I do because I am compelled to, or I will perish; I don’t create under a plan of activist action. My truth is political because we live in a political world. You can’t be unpolitical, but you can be ignorant.