A. Serrano » History https://abeserrano.com LA native, cultural explorer, & digital creative. Thu, 04 Jun 2015 23:40:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.38 Growing Up In LA I Never Once Asked Where My Water Came From… https://abeserrano.com/2015/06/04/growing-up-in-la-i-never-once-asked-where-my-water-came-from/ https://abeserrano.com/2015/06/04/growing-up-in-la-i-never-once-asked-where-my-water-came-from/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2015 21:59:46 +0000 http://abeserrano.com/?p=512 Read More]]> I am an LA native born and raised. Growing up in LA in the 80’s & 90’s I never once asked where my water came from. I just knew it was readily available and plentiful. I also remember the winters being moderately rainy during several heavy El Niño years that resulted in infamous mudslides and even a day of light snow on random years. All that to say – there was no reason to think about water! Sadly that same general sentiment continues today even during a very serious draught.

As I started learning more about the global water crisis I couldn’t understand how I could be living in such abundance, while the rest of the world was struggling to sustain themselves on water that ultimately made them sick. As I started asking this question friends who work as water engineers referred me to the documentary based on the book Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner.

I found the documentary absolutely fascinating and I highly recommend it to all Californians and especially Angelenos! There are groups who are looking toward the future of LA’s relationship with water and this documentary can serve as an overview of the past 100+ years of LA’s water history.

Watch all 4 parts of the documentary »

Once you have caught up on the past 100 years consider what the future of LA might look like:

UCLA Grand Challenge Project to make Los Angeles water and energy independent by 2050 »

Mayor Launches L.A.’S First-Ever Sustainable City Plan

How Los Angeles Became an Unlikely Model of Urban Sustainability

The Los Angeles Water Conundrum: Adaptability by Design

]]> https://abeserrano.com/2015/06/04/growing-up-in-la-i-never-once-asked-where-my-water-came-from/feed/ 0 Kehinde Wiley https://abeserrano.com/2014/05/13/kehinde-wiley/ https://abeserrano.com/2014/05/13/kehinde-wiley/#comments Tue, 13 May 2014 09:00:55 +0000 http://abeserrano.com/?p=405 Read More]]> “Los Angeles native and New York based visual artist, Kehinde Wiley has firmly situated himself within art history’s portrait painting tradition. As a contemporary descendent of a long line of portraitists, including Reynolds, Gainsborough, Titian, Ingres, among others, Wiley, engages the signs and visual rhetoric of the heroic, powerful, majestic and the sublime in his representation of urban, black and brown men [and women] found throughout the world.”
– kehindewiley.com

Kehinde has a unique way of exploring the conventions of glorification, history, wealth and prestige by placing young black and brown men and women in poses historically reserved for the social elite, royalty, and Western ideals of beauty. Not one to shy away from the complicated soci-political histories conveyed in traditional Western paintings, Kehinde’s larger than life portrait paintings awaken complex issues that are striking and intriguing. What I find most compelling is how a simple pose can speak volumes and change the conversation around the subject matter.

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Kehinde Wiley in his Bejing Studio (Photo: Matthew Niederhauser/Institute)

Here are some additional portraits that I found compelling:

Scenic: “Le Roi A La Chasse”

View inspiration »
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An Economy of Grace: “The Two Sisters”

View inspiration »
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Rumors of War: “Le Roi A La Chasse II”

View inspiration »
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]]> https://abeserrano.com/2014/05/13/kehinde-wiley/feed/ 0 UNFRAMED Atlanta: 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington https://abeserrano.com/2013/08/28/unframed-atlanta-50th-anniversary-of-the-march-on-washington/ https://abeserrano.com/2013/08/28/unframed-atlanta-50th-anniversary-of-the-march-on-washington/#comments Wed, 28 Aug 2013 02:00:41 +0000 http://abeserrano.com/?p=156 Read More]]>



As an American there are certain periods in my nation’s history that I will never fully comprehend and I feel that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s is one of those periods. 50 years ago life in “The Land of Free” was completely different than my current reality and I am left to rely on what I read in books, historical video footage, and movie portrayals of that era. So although I may never fully comprehend the full significance of past events I can be moved by the images of past events and draw the connections of their impact to my modern life.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and as part of his ongoing UNFRAMED project JR (of The Inside Out Project fame) “pasted a few iconic images from the march on the walls of Atlanta, in the very neighborhood where Martin Luther King grew up.” (via jr-art.net) There is a great write up on Creative Loafing.

JR Unframed March on Washington 01

JR Unframed March on Washington 02

JR Unframed March on Washington 03

Take a moment to re-listen to the famous speech by Martin Luther King Jr. given on August 28th, 1963.

 

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