M.J. Stevens

San Diego Landscapes

I was born and raised in the post-war suburbs of Los Angeles. These areas have consistently become blighted and impoverished through the years as the rootless, transient populations of worker/breeders move further and further away from the urban center.

I started doing photography in 1986. I drove back to the neighborhood in West Covina where I grew up hoping to enjoy some childhood nostalgia. Looking around, I realized that not a single trace of my having lived there remained. Every neighbor and childhood friend had moved, every storefront had changed, every vacant lot had been developed. It seemed like a Twilight Zone episode. My past now existed only in my head. In reaction, I began photographing landscapes that reminded of the ones I grew up in, as well as the development that was irretrievably erasing them.

At present I'm living in the Rancho Penasquitos area of San Diego. Perversely, I feel fortunate to be present at the birth of yet another vast suburban ghetto. My photography still deals a lot with rootlessness, spiritual vacuity, and culture that is instantly fabricated, and entirely disposable. Sometimes, though, I have to admit I just take pictures of stuff 'cos it looks funny!

Are there any artist or poets out there hung up on the same issues? Please keep in touch.

                

              "Square Tree"                         
     (National City -- October, 1994)        

               

	      "Abandoned Temple"
     (National City -- October, 1994)

               

             "Drive-in Flora"
     (National City -- October, 1994)