"Photography for Evans, was neither document nor art, but a kind of a novel; a means to create a literature of images, using facts to construct fictions that revealed truths." - Lewis Baltz, The Most American Photographer
This catalog coincides with the exhibition Los Angeles and the Abstract Truth, the first solo exhibition by Zach Callahan. Photographed between 2020 and 2026, employing both documentary and staged images, the pictures in this show examine the main arteries of Los Angeles and what the social fabric of the city looks like during an increasingly turbulent time. In using a similar visual language in each mode of image making, the documentary nature of the photograph becomes unimportant and the camera's objective description creates a singular vision that forms a nuanced metaphor about Los Angeles, this country, and a way of seeing - an abstract truth.
"As long as I live in Los Angeles I feel like I have an obligation to make work here and attempt to depict what it feels like to walk or drive around the city. In my work I am attempting to describe an experience, a feeling, or a socioeconomic and political reality without leaning on the illustrative or straight forward representational qualities some photographs can have. It is my hope that the images are somehow nuanced or transformative - something closer to a scene from a film, a short story, or a metaphor." - Zach Callahan
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Zach Callahan (b. 1984 - Gainesville, FL) was raised in Jupiter, Florida. In 2006 he received his BA in English Literature from the University of Central Florida and soon after moved to New York City. He earned his MFA from the University of Hartford's International Low Residency Program in 2017, where he was awarded the merit scholarship. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California where he has held adjunct positions at Cal State Long Beach and ArtCenter Pasadena. His writing as been published in Wax Poetics Magazine and his photography has been commissioned by the New York Times. In August of 2024 he self published his first monograph Exhaust. The work examines class, loneliness and quiet everyday moments on foot in the streets of Los Angeles, a city that is dominated by car. He is a founding member of Seasons, an artist-run platform for contemporary photography in Los Angeles. Its programming includes exhibitions and publications that exist in physical and digital spaces. In 2026 his work was acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Standard Edition (Signed & Editioned):
8.5 inches x 8.5 inches
Saddle Stitched / Black Staple Bind
32 pages, 14 color & b/w plates
978-1-7369863-8-7