Welcome to Santa Cruz #1
In 2013 I moved to Santa Cruz California. It is a beautiful, kitschy, small seaside town with much local pride. I started photographing the city and environs to try to articulate the character of this insular place and discover what my role in it might be. Welcome to Santa Cruz #1 mixes my own photos and titles with found text from local tourism agencies on a sidewalk signboard. We expect signs to convey something meaningful or provide us direction and definition in the landscape. I enjoy working with signs because I can subvert or take advantage of this expectation. Welcome to Santa Cruz #1 is my attempt to use the sign’s declarative authority to imagine my lived experience as within, and not apart from, the predominant narratives, stories, and social structures of my adopted home.
