Alta / A Human Atlas of a City of Angels

At its core, conservation is about safeguarding the object and places created by diverse communities over time. In doing so, it is important to understand the variety of stakeholders in any community and how they use, value and interpret the places in which they live. Alta / A Human Atlas of a City of Angels aims to bring a more nuanced understanding of the diverse people who inhabit Los Angeles County, their unique stores, and how they perceive and interact with their environment. The project builds on previous Human Atlas projects by Lyon including: Somos Brasil (2016), WE:Deutschland (2018), i.Detroit (2020), and De.Coded (2023).

The project was built on the foundation of a year-long nomination process. The Alta team worked with equity advisor, the Policy Gap, on the nomination form and process, creating an equity strategy to optimize diverse nominee participation and accessibility.

The one hundred individuals featured in this project were selected from a list of 400 community-based nominations by a curatorial committee comprised of individuals who understand the key constituencies of Los Angeles. The committee met at the Getty Center in January 2023, to review the nominees and curate the list to the one hundred selected.

Alta Curatorial Committee: Jason Foster, President & Chief Operating Officer, Destination Crenshaw Edgar Garcia, Assistant General Manager, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument Catherine D. Hernandez, Project Manager, Brilliant Corners & Founder, Archivism Samantha M. Johnson, Land Return Coordinator, Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Land Conservancy Kren Malone, Director, Los Angeles Public Library, Central Library Mike Murase, Former Director of Service Programs, Little Tokyo Service Center Chon Noriega, Director, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Desserin Pereyra, Director of Organizational Development, 11:11 A Creative Collective

Marcus Lyon (b.1965) is a British artist. He launched the Glassworks in the early 1990’s as a multidisciplinary production house and gallery for commissioned and original art. As a portrait artist he has photographed a diverse range of humans, from Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Ministers to street children and global social change leaders. The early 21st century saw his work move beyond traditional forms as he incorporated sound and DNA science into his work. He founded the immersive, multi-layered, research-based Human Atlas platform in 2014.

Staff from across Getty provided advice and support to advance the project’s work as part of the Getty Advisory Committee: Rita Cofield, Rebecca Edwards, Keishia Gu, Lynette Haynes, Richard Hicks, Kristin Juarez, Zachary Kaplan, Alvaro Marquez, Brittany Prieto, Rachel Rivenc, Maria Velez