Stedelijk Museum: Dana Lixenberg

Dana Lixemburg is a Dutch photographer, who for the past 22 years has been documenting the residential area of imperial courts in south central LA. Dana has travelled back and fourth visiting imperial courts, gaining the trust of the community and families that live in the area, documenting their lives.


The project originally begin after travelling to gather magazine imagery for the riots in 1922, which inspired her to revisit the culture. Dana began photographing the community, in which she created a photo book of portraits of the residents. However Dana has most recently produced a film consisting of video clips, showing the reality and day to day lives of the community. 


Dana presents her film across 3 large projection screens in a blacked out room, giving a cinematic approach and really making you feel ash tough you are inside the environment. The video clips are very intimate in then sense of space and closeness to some of the subjects, really helping to reflect the relationship and trust she had gained from the families in the community. The clips involve children playing, baby showers, BBQs and community car washes etc. 


After viewing the video, i went back to look at the book of portraits she had created and instantly felt a stronger connection to the imagery. you are able to identify key areas of the images that were also in context to the images, as well as able to identify the community growing up. 

Dana has captured a really respectful and informative collection of work and her perseverance with this project really shines through, as she has captured the environment and connection she has built with the residents beautifully. 


A link to purchase her book- https://www.photobookstore.co.uk/photobook-imperial-courts-1993-2015.html 

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