Sinae Medina smiled as she was handed a free red rose from Maria Perez. This was Medina’s first time in Bell Gardens, so the flower felt like a warm welcome. Like paparazzi, dozens of photographers around Perez took photos of the flower vendor gifting flowers last weekend during a photo walk.
“When I grew up in Pasadena, there was a lot of Latino culture that is now kind of missed in my opinion because of gentrification in the area,” Medina told The LA Local. “So going to Bell Gardens and walking through the neighborhood seeing a lot of Hispanic touches with families outside and the flower vendors was very touching, I felt very reminiscent of home or at least what home used to be like for me.”
Despite not being a photographer, Medina joined the Bell Gardens installment of the SELA Photo Walk after being invited by a friend.
The origins of SELA Photo Walk
The group was started by friends Alan Arvizu and David R. Hernandez, two filmmakers from Huntington Park, in an effort to highlight the culture of Southeast Los Angeles. The area is a collection of LA County cities east of Downtown LA and south of the San Gabriel Valley. It includes Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Compton, Cudahy, Downey, Huntington Park, Lynwood, Maywood, Paramount, South Gate, Vernon and others.
SELA Photo Walk’s goal is to rotate through the different cities.
“We wanted to have a space where people from around SELA come together as a community and document its people, its culture, its colors, its signs, its small businesses.” Arvizu told The LA Local.
According to Hernandez, at their first photo walk in Bell a month earlier, about half of the people in attendance were from SELA and the rest were from outside the region, which he feels is also important to share.
“Southeast LA is so underrepresented and then all media that comes down from anywhere, specifically all the major networks, we’re always getting the bad media,” Hernandez explained. “We never get the media kind of shining the light on the stuff that’s good. So I felt like this could be an artistic way to do it.”
Hernandez also mentioned the work of Eddie Aguirre, known online as the Social Primate, as an example of someone from SELA spotlighting local people and culture.
A walk through Bell Gardens
For the latest SELA photo walk, Hernandez partnered with East LA Film Shop, LAN WAN, the city of Bell Gardens, BGArts and the SELA Arts Foundation. They raffled off a GoPro camera and disposable film cameras. Some attendees also got a free disposable camera if they didn’t bring their own.
Throughout the walk, Bell Gardens residents happily interacted with the group.
An older man on a bike spun around the same street twice to make sure his photo was taken, throwing up a peace sign. A few moments later, staff at Sarah’s Mini Market smiled and posed for several photos. Even a white cat provided an impromptu modeling session.
Some group members kept to themselves and quietly took photos, while others spent more time talking than looking through their viewfinders.
Miguel S. Romero, a local filmmaker and photographer, heard about the photo walk on social media and decided to join because it’s the area he grew up in.
“What makes this one stand out is that you bring people together in cities that don’t have that big of a photography scene,” Romero said.
For Arvizu, the inclusion of local elected officials like Bell Gardens Mayor Miguel De La Rosa, Bell Gardens Councilmember Marco Barcena and Cudahy Mayor Cynthia Gonzalez made the photo walk feel impactful.
“It feels powerful because when the city and the creatives come together we have this common ground,” Arvizu said. “If we want something to change, how do we do it together? Council members and mayors, they don’t need to be here. But the fact that they’re here shows a willingness to be collaborative.”
