My New Topographics, San Marcos

Moving from my above garage apartment perch in Santa Ana, CA, which always smelled like fresh tortillas, to a brand new apartment megacomplex in San Marcos, CA was jarring. No one had lived in my apartment before me. It smelled like a new car. These photographs document the rapid growth of this growing urban area, from the removal of natural grasses, replaced by artificial turf, to the building of a newer, larger, shinier apartment complex behind my own apartment complex. Visually the landscape was a study of contrasts- the formulaic design of this mass-produced housing juxtaposed against carefully manicured succulents lining the sidewalks. The only evidence of improvisation, the (destructive) digging of community dogs, continually repaired.