In California, that light was closer.
From March 4th to May 3rd, 2021, Daniel / Oliver presents an online exhibition of the Californian experience.
From the sweeping vistas of the Yosemite Valley to the stuccoed homes of suburbia, the mines of gold country to an outlaw biker’s clubhouse, Picturing California offers a rich survey of the Golden state, with a diverse selection of photography that documents specific, often unconventional, aspects of Californian history, culture, and landscapes. .
19th-century pioneers such as Watkins and Muybridge are seen alongside noted commercial and lesser-known studio photographers; as well as anonymous image-makers and album-compilers, all of whom, in one way or another, captured something essential about the West and what it meant to be there.
In his poem Winter Stars, Larry Levis reminisces about his youth on a California grape farm, and the feeling he would get at night when staring into the open sky of the Central Valley. About the stars, he writes, “It used to make me feel lighter, looking up at them. In California, that light was closer. In a California no one will ever see again.” California is a restless place, constantly turning over, changing for better or worse, its past self only visible through the eyes of those who pictured it.