All posts tagged: SouthCentral

In a new monument for South-Central, Lauren Halsey cements her loved ones as landmarks

In a new monument for South-Central, Lauren Halsey cements her loved ones as landmarks

Published by Sam Flores

This story is part of Image’s April’s Thresholds issue, a tour of L.A. architecture as it’s actually experienced. Someone said heaven is on the corner of 76th and Western. It’s nearly 90 degrees on a Saturday in South-Central and “sister dreamer lauren halsey’s architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles” is gleaming and activated. Thousands of people fill the streets that surround it in lit, ecstatic union. Parliament-Funkadelic is playing a live show onstage while we stomp the pavement in faithful entrancement. The line forming for fittingly swaggy merch becomes a site for sweet reunions unfolding one after another — some version of “this is crazy, this is amazing, this is L.A.” being thrown back and forth on a loop. On the sidewalk, generations play spades in the shade and the joyful screams of children emanate from a custom bouncy house adorned with an Egyptian pharaoh bust. Across the way, skateboarders do their thing on the Neighbors Skate Shop ramp, flipping and flexing, making sculptures out of their bodies in …

In South-Central, a film festival makes space for neighborhood creatives

In South-Central, a film festival makes space for neighborhood creatives

Published by Sam Flores

The golden-hour sun illuminated the crowd standing under the trees outside Mercado La Paloma, which had gathered on Saturday afternoon for a panel on the lack of Latino representation in the film industry as part of the South Central Film Festival. “I’m a queer, undocumented Mexican immigrant. I am what inspires me to create stories,” said Armando Ibáñez, the 42-year-old, Los Angeles-based filmmaker known for his YouTube series “Undocumented Tales.” Earlier that day, Ibáñez had won a jury award for his short film, “Her Last Day in the U.S.,” about an elderly undocumented immigrant woman returning to Mexico after living in the United States with her family for almost 40 years. “I would always see movies from Hollywood about immigrants — characters that were supposed to represent me — full of stereotypes,” Ibáñez said. “We are more than just crossing the border and getting deported. We have feelings. We have a past. We have a present. We have complex stories.” Filmmakers Kei Austin, from left, Sierra Fujita, Armando Ibanez, Daniel Eduvijes Carrera and Kevin Benjamin …