For nearly a year and a half, Hernandez walked the basin of the Los Angeles River, photographing the changes that occur to the waterway as levels fluctuate in tune with the dry and rainy seasons. For Hernandez, it was a return to a childhood activity, having grown up in nearby Boyle Heights, a mainly Latino neighborhood of East L.A. As a child, he would play in and around the massive concrete ditches, discovering discarded junk and making mischief. They proved a source of endless opportunity, tucked away, out of parental sight. Used by the homeless when weather permits, the basins are a bit of a catchall, collecting trash and trinkets alike. This too was part of Hernandez’s overall project, to photograph this natural element winding its way through the unnatural life of the city. - Darius Himes Everything. The Los Angeles River is shaped by Southern California’s arid climate. During the dry months, from June to October, it is little more than a rivulet, meandering torpidly through miles of concrete flood-control. But between November and May, when fierce rains strike, it rises up, swelling against its man-made boundaries, fed by storm drains that conduct waste water to the sea. From January 2003 to May 2004, photographer Anthony Hernandez walked the basin of the Los Angeles River, recording what he saw – which, as the book’s title implies, was more or less Everything. For Hernandez, to explore the river was to explore his own past. As a boy growing up in Boyle Heights, a largely Latino neighborhood in East Los Angeles, he played in the concrete basin, or as he puts it, made “mischief,” exploding railroad flares in its tunnel-like storm drains, and smashing bottles against its walls. Significantly, Hernandez does not stage his photographs; he records what he finds. In the river, this mostly means items left by homeless people (who camp there in the warmer weather) or objects lost down far-away storm drains.
