Labyrinth

"Debuting at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in the FOCUS:Photography section for the 2015 Los Angeles Art Book Fair, LABYRINTH is a collection of images created over a 13-day period in the Philippines where I traveled through different slums and areas accompanied by a gang of little people who, after finding out I was from Los Angeles, thought I was a film director because of all the cameras I had. After telling them I was no one, they didn't believe me and so we created a kind of collaborative theater where they would play for my camera shooting guns, setting cars on fire, and giving me tours of slums around the outskirts of Manila. After asking to have women in the images, they said that they didn't want them photographed, so we dressed and dolled up the men in the slums who performed enthusiastically for the camera along with other men, who out of fear of being recognized, covered their faces with masks. In all, over 40 rolls of film were shot, which were developed in my studio over the course of two days whereupon the images were edited and sequenced together in time for exhibition at the Art Book Fair. The title, Labyrinth, is both a comment on the book's structure where images repeat and undulate in unannounced patterns, as well as being a comment on the book's design. Using rubber bands bought on location to hold my film together I repurposed the bands to bind each book, allowing readers to create their own maze of imagery and personal labyrinth to navigate themselves." - Jason Jaworski