What if walls created spaces?

Copied Ruben Ochoa, What if walls created spaces?, 2007, lenticular print mounted on aluminum composite, overall: 48 × 96 in. (121.9 × 243.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2015.42A-D, © 2007, Ruben Ochoa

Artwork Details

Title
What if walls created spaces?
Artist
Date
2007
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
overall: 48 × 96 in. (121.9 × 243.8 cm)
Copyright
© 2007, Ruben Ochoa
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center
Mediums Description
lenticular print mounted on aluminum composite
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture Exterior — detail — wall
Object Number
2015.42A-D
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2015.42A-D

Artwork Description

Ruben Ochoa deliberately tampers with the appearance of the I-10, a freeway that runs through East Los Angeles. He created a lenticular print that interlaces two different views of a freeway wall. As viewers walk past his photograph, the wall partially disappears, opening up a portal into an imaginary verdant landscape. Ochoa's playful gesture alludes to the communities located on the other side of freeways. Starting in the 1950s, freeways like the I-10 were built through many working class neighborhoods in Los Angeles, despite community protests. These massive roads connected suburbs to major metropolises, yet isolated Chicano and African American neighborhoods from the social and economic fabric of the surrounding region. Ochoa's title poses a question that invites viewers to ponder the impact of the built environment on inner-city residents.

Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography, 2017
Description in Spanish

Ruben Ochoa manipula intencionalmente el aspecto de la I‑10, una autopista que atraviesa el vecindario de East Los Angeles. Creó una impresión lenticular que entrelaza dos perspectivas diferentes de una pared de la autopista. Cuando los espectadores pasan delante de su fotografía, la pared desaparece parcialmente y abre un portal hacia un frondoso paisaje imaginario. La imagen lúdica de Ochoa hace alusión a las comunidades situadas al otro lado de las autopistas. A partir de la década de los 50, se construyeron en Los Ángeles autopistas como la I‑10 a través de muchos vecindarios de trabajadores, a pesar de las protestas de la comunidad. Estas vías masivas comunicaban a los suburbios con las grandes metrópolis, pero aislaban a los vecindarios chicanos y afroamericanos del tejido socioeconómico de la región circundante. El título elegido por Ochoa plantea una pregunta que invita a los espectadores a ponderar el impacto que tiene el entorno construido sobre los residentes del centro urbano.

Por estas calles bravas: Comunidad y lugar en la fotografía urbana, 2017

Videos

Exhibitions

Photograph of children playing in the water from a fire hydrant by Hiram Maristany
Down These Mean Streets: Community and Place in Urban Photography
May 11, 2017–August 5, 2017
Smithsonian American Art Museum
America’s urban streets have long inspired documentary photographers. After World War II, populations shifted from the city to the suburbs and newly built highways cut through thriving neighborhoods, leaving isolated pockets within major urban centers.