In 1992, Los Angeles was aflame with riots and insurrection after the verdicts of Rodney King’s beating. I was among many artists who created a call for healing in the wake of the conflict. In my original project, Los Angeles (1992-2007), I collaborated with 101 members of my community to create angels in a darkened studio. Each subject stood for nearly an hour while I used strobes, flashlights, and filters to mark light across their bodies and onto a stage of bedsheets and cardboard wings. These large angels were ablaze with vibrant colors and forged in the tumult. They stood as guardians, calling for peace and understanding.

It is painful to stand in one position for nearly an hour. This was my subjects’ intimate and spiritual sacrifice. After arranging the personal items and clothing that they brought for their angel, I would say, “Take a comfortable stance, relax and breath normally. Your body will settle and wilt. I’m here to interpret that. And I’ll take care of you.” Many of my subjects recalled the experience as a meditative inward journey at the center of lights flashing, swirling, and beaming into ethereal space. Together in the dark, with their energy and my light, we created their angels.

Los Angeles (revisited), (2022) includes the same angels from the past, reissued in response to the same brutal authority and political violence that is still with us today. I have reinterpreted these guardians as icons, illuminated with gold and silver leafing to reflect their scared status. Luminously floating on collection pins, their likeness seems fragile, but their strength was proven in the original sacrifice. Their spiritual nature is a prayer for hope and peace to prevail, all these years later.