CITY ARTS : A Landscape of Landmarks

Armed with cameras, a diverse group of eight people, ages 10 to 18, were sent out on the streets of Los Angeles by the Getty Conservation Institute. Their mission: capture what they deemed to be significant social and architectural landmarks of Los Angeles.

The result, on display at City Hall’s Bridge Gallery, is “Picture L.A.: Landmarks of a New Generation,” a dramatic collection of images ranging from freeway on-ramps to the neighborhood barbershop; from Downtown homeless camps to the last fish shop on the Santa Monica Pier.

The institute, a privately funded organization dedicated to restoring and preserving landmarks and monuments throughout the world, lent cameras to the children to explore the concept of landmarks in the ever-changing Los Angeles landscape.

“I think a landmark is something you see every day, that’s like a part of you,” said 18-year-old Raul Herrera, one of the photographers, who attends Los Angeles City College.

Much of Herrera’s work focuses on a group of people occupying the graffiti-covered Belmont tunnel near Downtown.

“Young people see the other side of L.A. that everyone else tries to ignore,” he said.

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“Picture L.A.” will be on view until Jan. 6 at the Henry P. Rio Bridge Gallery at Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring St. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Free admission. Information: (310) 822-2299.