December Featured Artist - Jonathan Roskos
By Kris Leigh Townsend
Article by Kris Leigh
A lot has changed in the Mar Vista neighborhood over the last decade, and photographer Jonathan Roskos has been there to capture it in his series “The Changing Neighborhood”.
“In the 13 years I’ve lived here, so many buildings have gone down and been rebuilt. So many businesses have gone out of business and become other businesses. Photography is uniquely capable to capture that other time.”
Originally from a rural town in Pennsylvania, Jonathan says he has built an interest around synthetic changes to landscapes and the conflict between natural and manmade environments. His photography is a unique take on new topographies, using un-staged street photography to capture alterations in urban settings.
Jonathan says the purpose of his art is to look for “what’s true”. Without a set agenda, he allows for patterns in the art emerge on their own from the reality of the moment. In this particular series, the photographer captured what changing architecture says about social structure. First inspired by a simple design change to a laundromat, he was encouraged to look deeper into how aesthetic changes reflect social changes. The photos call forward economic influence on the neighborhood, who is being catered to and the social reasons buildings are being modified.
“There are economic factors beyond meeting the needs of the community are driving the changes,” says Jonathan. “My purpose in the series is to have people question if the changes that are occurring are serving the community for those who reside here or whether they’re catering to a different demographic that’s moving in and displacing people.”
