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Yogan Müller

Aphasia, Two Years After the Storm
Los Angeles
January–March 2022


This portfolio reflects the work I did for Obscura DAO’s first Community Commission mentored by Jim Goldberg (Magnum Photos), Alejandro Cartagena, Mickey Smith and Carlos Loret de Mola.

Reflecting on the “Two Years After the Storm” phrase, I couldn’t find fitting words to describe the devastating effects of the pandemic. After all, I arrived in Los Angeles in October 2019 then on March 22, 2020, we went into lockdown. Right when I had gotten my bearings, the world went upside down.

Throughout the pandemic, I could rely on a steady job – teaching and doing research at UCLA Design Media Arts – and a strong support system at the community house where I lived then. However, the storm wrought by the pandemic in Los Angeles was close to a category five hurricane, figuratively speaking. It was a true bifurcation point and little of what we knew in 2019 fully recovered.

Photographically, I built on my Telotypes series to follow the storm track and the visible damage it left in its wake. I walked and biked a lot across the westside of Los Angeles. Life went on but with heavy eyelids and was at the mercy of the Covid-19 variants that propagated like a set of powerful waves. 

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See the Obscura’s curated NFT series here: https://obscura.io/community-commission/1

Shreds, Santa Monica, February 2022. Guardrail, Palms, February 2022. Jogger, Ocean Front Walk, Santa Monica, February 2022. Cards, Exposition Corridor Bike Path, Santa Monica, January 2022.





Barbie Street Vendor, Palisades Park, Santa Monica, February 2022. Pathway, Santa Monica, March 2022.


Landscape, Interstate 10 on-ramp on Cloverfield Boulevard, Santa Monica, January 2022. Mask, Santa Monica, February 2022. Lumber yard, Myers Street, Central Los Angeles, February 2022. SUV, 10th Street, Santa Monica, February 2022.



Maru, Boyle Heights, January 2022. Classic Tile Shop, 10th Street, Santa Monica, February 2022. Mineral Science Lab, Natural History Museum, Los Angeles, February 2022.



Tannaz, Party City parking lot, Sepulveda Bd, Los Angeles, January 2022. Jesse, Mid-City, Los Angeles, January 2022. Untitled, Expo Line Train bikepath, Santa Monica, January 2022. Untitled, Self-Help Graphics Gallery, Boyle Heights, January 2022. Untitled, Arizona and 16th St, Santa Monica, January 2022. Maru, Mineral Science Lab, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, January 2022. Brett, National History Museum, Los Angeles, February 2022. Broadway and 14th street, Santa Monica, February 2022. US-101 off-ramp, Boyle Heights, January 2022. Public Utility Truck, Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, January 2022. Night Creeper, Broadway, Santa Monica, February 2022. Guardrail, Wilshire/Vermont Station, Los Angeles, February 2022.


Passerby, Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles, January 2022. Untitled, Mineral Science Lab, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, January 2022. Sticker, Santa Monica, March 2022. Two, 10th Street, Santa Monica, March 2022.


Copyright © 2006–2026 Yogan Müller. All rights reserved.