NOMINATED BY PARIS CHONG (DIRECTOR, LEICA GALLERY LA)
24—LOS ANGELES
Drawing from his upbringing in Southern California and family ties to rural Ohio, Adali Schell may be best known for a series capturing his friends with their first cars. His work has been shown at Les Rencontres d’Arles and published in The Guardian, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.
“My first camera was an iPod Touch, the first generation to feature a built-in camera. I was in the fifth grade and wanted the device so I could play games and talk to friends after school, but eventually discovered the camera as a means to guard myself, aid my anxiety, and safely engage the people and landscape around me.
I used to think of myself as a street photographer and would predominantly shoot strangers from the hip. As a teenager, I was convinced that these fleeting moments offered an intimate glimpse into humanity, only achievable by the candid camera. In more recent years, I’ve almost entirely abandoned this kind of picture, instead focusing my camera on what is mine and what I already know.
The pictures that matter most to me are of my actual life: my mom, sister, grandfather, extended family, and friends. The more pictures I take, the more unsure of myself I seem to become. Daniel Arnold once told me that in spite of all the affirmations, his camera has only gotten heavier. At 17, I couldn’t understand what he meant, but I’ve found this to be alarmingly true. I once thought photography was for anyone at all times. Only more recently have I come to understand its fragility, its suffocation under pressure. It isn’t something I have full possession over. It’s something that sometimes works if the circumstances are right, if I’m with the people I love.”
in your life?
