INTERVIEW

As her new book is released, the documentary photographer talks to Alistair Campbell about exploring communities and letting your subjects guide what you photograph

‘Whittier Boulevard’, Heatwave Car Club East, Los Angeles, CA. 3 September, 2016.

Kristin Bedford

Kristin Bedford

Kristin Bedford Photographer

Located at the intersection of aesthetics and social realism, Kristin Bedford’s photography explores race, visual stereotypes and communal self-expression. Through long-term engagement with communities, Bedford makes photographs that invite us to reconsider prevalent visual narratives around cultural movements.

Bedford’s photographs have appeared in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe, and are held in numerous collections worldwide, including the Library of Congress and the Archive of Documentary Arts at the Rubenstein Library.

Bedford’s work has been featured in The NewYork Times,TheGuardian, SmithsonianMagazine, TheTelegraph, CNN, Esquire and The Huffington Post.

Born in Washington, DC, Bedford lives and works in Los Angeles.

www.kristinbedford.com

Kristin Bedford’s work explores the idea of community and the cultures that arise as people work, play and pray together. She specialises in long-term projects, including living with a religious community in Philadelphia and documenting the ‘storefront churches’ of the southern United States. Bedford’s new bookCruise Night, compiles the best photos she took as she explored Mexican American lowrider (custom-car owner) culture in Los Angeles over five years.

How did you end up becoming involved with the lowriders of LA?

Underlying all of my projects is an interest in social justice and how communities express their civil rights in a society that often marginalises them. My path to lowriding came from an interest in how the customisation of a car is about having a voice – politically, culturally and creatively.