The Artwork
Meet Me at the Park, 2024
Photography pop-up event
Hollenbeck Park, August 10-11, 2024 | 12PM - 6PM
The studio family portrait is a beloved art medium and object many families cherish and show off in their homes. These photographs serve as important documentation of family lineage and existence, and yet are not always available to the everyday person to arrange or afford. Meet Me at the Park is a community pop-up photo project by artist Star Montana that aims to break the inaccessibility of studio portraiture by offering free personal photography sessions for families and people to be represented through portraiture and photography.
The project aims to serve the Boyle Heights community around Hollenbeck Park. Hollenbeck Park has been a greenspace since the mid-1830s, when it was known as Paredon Blanco or White Bluffs. From that time until today, families, teenage lovers, and everyday people go there for community, playtime, and the enjoyment of greenspace.
Star Montana (b. 1987, Los Angeles) is a photo-based artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She was born and raised in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles, which is predominantly Mexican American and serves as the backdrop to much of her work.
Her work has recently been exhibited at Charlie James Gallery (2019, 2016); Residency Art Gallery (2018); LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes (2018); Occidental College (2017); The Mexican Center for Culture and Cinematic Arts at the Mexican Consulate General of Mexico (2017); The Main Museum (2017); Ballroom Marfa (2017); and Vincent Price Art Museum (2016). Montana will be an artist-in-residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in 2020. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Art from the University of Southern California, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the School of Visual Arts, and an Associate of Arts in Photography from East Los Angeles College.
Star Montana was commissioned by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture to create a temporary artwork as a member of the Public Artists in Development (PAiD) program’s Artist Council.