Dana Lixenberg / Imperial Courts 1993 – 2015

The exhibition Imperial Courts, 1993 – 2015 displays for the first time the entirety of work that photographer Dana Lixenberg made in the neighborhood of Los Angeles during the past twenty-two years. Through her photography, video, and audio works, Lixenberg offers us an intimate glimpse into the everyday life of this troubled area and its residents. She intentionally photographed her subjects against neutral backgrounds, rather than locations loaded with meaning, such as graffiti-filled walls, and she kept references to gang culture out of her images. The filmed scenes are observational and tranquil, capturing the people, their surroundings, and the daily rhythm of the neighborhood. The ordinariness of these scenes gives them a somewhat surreal and alienating quality, but the viewer is always subtly aware of the tension that hovers just below the surface in a neighborhood such as this one.