Child with fist up at City Hall. #BlackLivesMatter
Participating in the Movement to Abolish Racism
Watching the class of 2020 graduation into the Black Lives Matter revolution has inspired me in ways I was not expecting. It hs been uplifting and heartwarming to see the inclusion of youths of all colors and genders participating. This is the movement in the set: The new crew. The young people bringing it to the street to abolish racism are carrying that torch and flame.
I started shooting protests in Los Angeles in 2008. It was a natural evolution from filming and photographing homelessness on Skid Row in Los Angeles. You can’t film poverty without filming systemic, institutionalized racism. It’s the same thing.
Child with fist up at City Hall.
Protestors take a break at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.
Women ride on car on Santa Monica Blvd.
Artist paints George Floyd on Vine Street at Hollywood Blvd.
Protestor yells at police, Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood, CA.
Pregnant protestor at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.
Sheriff’s deputy stares the camera at City Hall.
Police line up at the Gower Gulch in Hollywood.
Woman with purple mask at City Hall.
Protestor climbs traffic signal at City Hall.
Troops on streets of downtown Los Angeles
Woman on scooter at protest on Sunset Boulevard and Vine.
Woman with mask at City Hall.
Sheriffs’ Deputies form skirmish line at Temple Street at Hill Street in Los Angeles.
Spectators take photos at City Hall protest.
Protestor downtown in Los Angeles.
Woman flips off Stage 12 on Gower Street in Hollywood.
Family for solidarity for protestor on Cahuenga Blvd.
Laborer repairs damage at Cartier in Beverly Hills, CA.
Police tear gas protesters Beverly, Hills, CA.
Rodeo Blvd, in Beverly Hill, CA boarded up after looting.
Protestors with signs at City Hall asking us to abolish racism.
Protestors embrace at City Hall.
Man in leopard clothes at City Hall.
Luigi Ventura was raised in Los Angeles by immigrant parents from Latin America. At seventeen, I was drawn to photography and inspired by photographers such as Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, Robert Capa, Graciela Iturbide, Richard Avedon and filmmakers Andrei Tarkovsky, Jean-Pierre Melville, and Stanley Kubrick. After I figured out filmmaking and photography was my calling, I took to the streets to venture as much time as possible outdoors, capturing images through the lens of a first generation American.