On April 9, former fashion photographer Désirée van Hoek will talk about her book ‘Skid Row’ at ABC Treehouse. She worked six years on ‘Skid Row‘ in Los Angeles, one of the biggest homeless communities in America. In her book, Van Hoek tries to capture the humanity of the neigbourhood by zooming in on people’s dwellings and possessions, and the structures that shape their environment. In the words of Ingalill Wahlroos-Ritter, director of the WUHO gallery in LA:
“Désirée has managed to capture a part of our city that we, as the citizens of Los Angeles, too often overlook or ignore. She has done so with very great respect of our subjects and with an eye for hidden beauty. […] The photographs make me think differently about the architecture of our city. For the people of Skid Row, architecture, essentially that which protects and shelters, can be a shopping cart, a blanket, the sidewalk, a headscarf, a fence that acts a hanging device for all of my belongings, and cardboard signs that communicate as well as shields us from the sun and the rain.”