CHAMELEON SOUL: STREET ART

[Photos: @chrisfotog // 35 mm // Arts District, Los Angeles]

The idea of self-actualization is so silly to me because identity, itself, is fluid. If there is an objective truth in this universe, it is the truth of change. We are constantly being molded by our surroundings. What's that quote from Chuck Palahniuk? Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.

The world revolves in an entropic state with everything swirling and crashing and shifting in a perfect disharmony and we swirl and crash and shift with it. It's chaotic and it's beautiful and it's all so exciting. At least to me.

That's why I love living in the city. Here, everything seems to happen all at once and it's hard not to get swept up in the technicolor veins of LA.

Walking in the heart of the city, with its bright neon lights, you feel as if you're on the cusp of something grand, something bigger than yourself & anyone you've ever known. There are so many people so many buildings so many painted walls and I'm ready to get lost in it all.

To let go of who I am, to discover who I can become.

Beanie: Urban Outfitters

Scarf: Urban Outfitters

Denim Jacket: Forever 21

Sweater: Zara

Leggings: Charlotte Russe

Combat Boots: Charlotte Russe

This photo was snapped on the day the tube broke down whilst I was on my way to Shoreditch. Stranded in the middle of nowhere as a result, I sat on a rando street curb and looked like a forlorn mushroom child for posterity. And isn't that just a metaphor for life? You make plans and something you didn't anticipate, something you couldn't anticipate, something completely out of your hands, happens. You get on a train and it breaks down. (You lose that one person you thought you could never, ever live without.) And in the aftermath of the unanticipated disaster, you're left stranded in the middle of nowhere feeling completely and utterly lost. Feeling like you can't go forward. Because how can you move forward when your main mode of transportation (read: the tube) ceases to function? And now you're probably the one lost. Am I talking in literal terms or metaphorical terms? I'll answer that for you. Both. These unpredictable (horrible, heartbreaking) moments are also painful, but beneficial determinants of character. This is when you discover whether you're strong enough to move forward. This is when you must find your way back no matter how futile the situation seems. This is when I sat on a curb in the middle of nowhere and waited for a (very slow) bus to transport me to Shoreditch. And that's the moral of this photo right here. In life, shit will happen. Shit that will completely tear you apart and break you. But finding a way out of the shit is what builds character. It's what helps you survive the next shit occurrence. And they say it gets better. Or, according to i-D Features Editor Bertie Brandes, you grow apathetic and cynical. I'd like to believe the former, even if it's only for the sake of my still starry-eyed teenage soul (but sometimes that's what you need to do, I think). To be honest, I'm too young to really know the answer. But I hopped on a bus and got to Shoreditch, didn't I?

On that note, here's a photodiary of my most recent misadventures.

Shoreditch