Christy Schnabel '85

ARTIST STATEMENT

North of the pier, the Santa Monica Bike Path has a way of softening the noise and chaos of the world. The wind and the waves and the whir of bicycle tires speeding by create a symphony of white noise that diffuses the clutter inside my head. In 2017, when the world fell out of balance, I went there in search of calm. The people passing by reassured me, their constant ebb and flow mimicking a manageable rhythm of life. After much time sitting alone alongside the path, I grew curious about the passersby. Where were they coming from, where were they going? Some passed by with heavy baggage, others with nothing at all, but all of them seemed to be there for the same reason as me. Using my camera, I stopped them from rushing by and disappearing. Minimizing the backdrop and fixing the frame to the grounding force of the distant horizon, I focused on their detail: the colors of their bikes, the laces on their shoes, the designs on their socks, the weight of their backpacks; their expressions, thoughts, moods and reveries. The two photographs in this show are among thousands I shot at the Bike Path between the fall of 2017 and 2019. Each portrait elevates the subject, but these two together capture something else as well. Placing them side by side, they mirror each other. Shot on different days at different spots, their body language nevertheless speaks in harmony. There is a balance between them, which reassures me, not unlike the sound of the waves and the wind, we are all together in rhythm on the same path.