The block-long line of boarded up storefronts on 6th Street adjacent to MacArthur Park has long been a stage for a constantly changing collage of graphic "speech.” In 2022 I added banners to this informal street exhibition. (https://johnnavastudio.blogspot.com/2022/03/6th-st-banner-project-los-angeles.html)
Periodically I would photograph these always changing walls. At one moment, prior to the 2020 election, the walls were covered with exhortations to vote. A year later protests of the Trump administration’s ICE raids in Los Angeles appeared.
“6th St.” is derived from those two moments as well as an encounter with a father and son on their way to the park. Especially after the ICE raids the 6th St. walls included works by local artists as well as protest graffiti and political notices.
Recently, and suddenly, the walls have been painted out. All banners, signage and graffiti removed.
