Join us for a new lens on public housing history in Los Angeles, as scholar Nicole Krup Oest shares her PhD thesis for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Zurich.
Her fascinating thesis-turned-book,Photography and Modern Public Housing in Los Angeles(Heidelberg University Library, 2021), looks at how photography shaped public perceptions of public housing projects in Los Angeles and nationally. The book includes dozens of seldom seen images from offline collections, which illuminate how the narrative for public housing was shaped, for better or for worse, by the local housing authority.
Oest’s training in art history (she is a lecturer in art history at City College of San Francisco) helps bring to light the important role that commercial photographers, such as Luckhaus Studio, played in crafting the narrative. Photography, graphic design, and exhibition design also played key roles.
This program is another installment in SAH/SCC’s ongoing series examining how photography and architecture shape our perceptions of the built environment. Past programs on Wayne Thom (see Page 5 to purchase video) and Marvin Rand by Emily Bills have been extremely popular.
Oest’sPhotography and Modern Public Housing in Los Angelesis made available as an open-source document, free to those who wish to read online.
