Palisade
Santa Monica, CA 
2021-Present

When I moved to Los Angeles in October 2019, the Pacific Ocean is the first place I intentionally visited. None of LA’s classic landmarks were interesting to me. Instead, I wanted to touch and commune with the ocean.

On my way, I walked through the Palisades Park. Perched on the Santa Monica Bluffs, the park is a series of manicured landscapes overlooking the Bay of Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean. Underneath the park, the iconic Pacific Coast Highway sustains heavy traffic throughout the day and creates a constant roar.

It turns out the Palisades Park is where the historic transcontinental east-west US Route 66 terminates and as such, it is one of the westernmost sites of the country. We can’t go any further west from there. 

Visitors and passersby keep a safe distance from a precipitous drop leaning against a heavy concrete guardrail whose sinuous path is a motif of finis terræ.

The park is also a place of extreme socio-economic contrasts: wealthy tourists snap selfies against the concrete guardrail and immaculate blue skies, while homeless people are laying in the shade and on lawns surrounded by their belongings. 

This project draws from the etymological root of “palisade” that comes from French palissade, a “picket fence,” to contend with the crumbling boundaries of an idealized place.