The Palms

The Palms

The Palms is an ongoing photo series that explores and exploits the monumental figure of Southern California: the palm tree. 

If you live in Southern California and stepped outside of your house, what may you encounter within your immediate viewing distance? You may experience ideal weather or observe unusual people, but you will most likely be within the presence of a palm tree. You may find yourself overwhelmed as you realize that you are surrounded by the palms—they are inescapable. These trees have become a regional symbol of Southern California, and this series attempts to explore how and where this idea is executed. 

Although The Palms is concerned with palm trees in every place and form, the work will mainly focus on palm trees that seem like they are out of place. With that thought in mind, we must question why the placement of these trees seems odd. Palm trees have flourished extensively throughout Southern California, and that allows for residents to unconsciously adopt the trees’ placement as normal. But what about the trees that stand alone in track home backyards? Or the various trees that stand in pairs along the major freeways? The photo series will also consider the strange settings in which palms trees are in excess; where they rule the environment and overcome their surroundings. 

Like the monuments that line the boulevards in Paris, palm trees line the major streets of cities in Southern California. The palm tree is a Southern Californian aesthetic—it is a Southern Californian monument. This series will explore that concept through its photos and text posts, and will hopefully give insight to how a tree became capable of creating an identity.