This LA Artist’s photography cemented LA gang culture in history

In the 1980s few artists documented gang and street life in Los Angeles. Photographer Merrick Morton was one of the first to cement that era in history with his pictures of the men and women who lived it.

His first solo show, “UN-REHEARSED” at Chinatown’s Eastern Projects gallery, exhibits cholos, Black gangs, guns, drugs, police brutality and other parts of L.A. history from that period and beyond. He captures the violence but also the humanity of these communities.

“For me, the most interesting part is some of the subjects that I shot going back to the '80s have actually shown up [at the gallery] and they've come in,” he says. Others “come in to see [photos of] their family. So, to me, that's the most exciting part of it.”

Listen • 25:06

Listen • 25:06

Photographer Merrick Morton Cemented 80s Gang Culture In History

#276: Merrick Morton is one of the first people to document Chicano gang culture in L.A. He also photographed women in prison, Latinas at kickbacks, and people on death row. Almost all of his photos capture something that you might not expect: a tenderness, a realness. We meet up with Merrick at the Eastern Projects gallery in Chinatown, where an exhibit of his work titled "Un-Rehearsed" is on display, to talk about his art and how he started photographing these communities. If you want to see some examples of his work, check out this article on LAist.com. Or - come see the free show in person! It's running until May 18th.

Documenting L.A. life

Morton is a homegrown Angeleno from the Valley, and before he began documenting cliques and gang life, he practiced photography at a state psychiatric hospital through a California grant that allowed people to interact with patients. (Some of those photos are showcased at the exhibit.)

Through his connections in his grant work, he was able to reach out to the California State Department of Corrections, which eventually led to meeting a correctional officer, Gerald Ivory, who allowed him to tag along as he visited parolees. That was Morton’s entryway to being in community with L.A. gang members and their families.

Morton took portraits of people who ran with gangs like Elm Street, Venice Locos and Florencia 13, and photographed the events they were involved in, from hangouts and family barbecues to funerals and run-ins with police officers.

Photographer Merrick Morton captured all aspects of 1980s gang and street life in L.A.

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Courtesy of Merrick Morton

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Merrick Morton captured street photography and portraits of gang members in L.A. in the 1980s and on.

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Courtesy of Merrick Morton

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Morton wasn’t the only one putting attention on this slice of the Chicano experience during this time period. There were other artists in different media who elevated the culture, groups like Asco, Carlos Almaraz, and the folks at Self Help Graphics. Morton also credits artist John Valadez — who captured pachuco culture — as someone who exposed him to Chicano culture and art and influenced his work. But still, many people in the '80s weren’t exposed to the culture at this point.

A white photographer in Black and brown communities

He and Ivory who, Morton says, had become a friend, started by visiting East and South L.A. communities, first photographing portraits of folks at the Obregon Park rec center and later gaining trust to visit them at their homes or other hang out spots. He notes the probation officer and the photog definitely got looks when they started out documenting this.

“It was sort of interesting for us, too, because he's a Black guy, I'm a white guy, and people would sort of see us on the streets, too, and say, ‘Who are you?’” he says.

But Morton, a self-described shy guy, says he never wanted to overstep. He knew how he could be perceived as a stranger, and a white man in his 30s, usually dealing with people of color who were younger than him. One of his advantages, says Morton, was it wasn’t common for folks to have a camera on them, like it is nowadays with iPhones. Many people just didn’t have photos of themselves or their homies.

Eventually, his photography of the communities lowered down walls.

Photographer Merrick Morton also captured the joy in gang communities.

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Courtesy of Merrick Morton

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In the photographs, some subjects are covered in tattoos, with stoic gazes and soft eyes. Other pictures capture youngsters hanging out — maybe experiencing some type of joy — even for a moment. There’s also a glimpse of '80s and '90s fashion choices, especially with the ladies’ bangs and signature eyeliner eyebrows.

Hollywood work

This led to other publishing work. Morton's photographs were featured in LA Weekly and Rolling Stone — again, at a time when mainstream media wasn’t reporting on the humanity of these communities. Eventually, more people began to pay attention.

His photographs caught the attention of Hollywood. Morton was tapped to work as a consultant and set photographer for movies like La Bamba,” Fight Club and Blood In, Blood Out. He’s worked on dozens of films, as well as TV sets, for more than two decades, and those photos of Brad Pitt and other actors are also in the exhibition at Eastern Projects.

One of the bigger frames at the gallery holds a black and white portrait of a young Richard Cabral, “The Mayans” actor who was previously a gang member. Cabral had come through Homeboy Industries and Morton later met him on a film set, photographing him in 2011. Both have an upcoming project that features Cabral’s poetry and Morton’s visuals, in a documentary-style view of East L.A.

Morton’s work also took him to Mexico and Cuba to document those gangs, too.

“Sometimes people will say that, ‘Hey, you're exploiting violence … there are certain images of people holding guns or drugs,’” he says, “but I think for me, it's more about creating the dialogue to talk about these things."

Keeping the images alive

It hasn’t been easy to continue publishing these historic images. Morton's had film and photography confiscated by officials before. And when social media became part of our lives, Morton gravitated to Instagram. He began publishing his photos on that platform, gaining attention once again — the good and bad. Instagram ended up taking down his account three times or deleting pictures off his feed, most times saying that his images depicted violence.

The experience has been, to say the least, frustrating for Morton. He feels that sometimes the decision to take something down seems based on race, and that white people being photographed with their guns on an account like the NRA’s get a pass, he says.

“Sometimes it seems it's racial, what [social media platforms] go after,” Morton says. “Compared to if you're white, it seems you have a little more latitude, what you can put in.”

But he’s back on Instagram, and he stays because that’s how he is able to connect with his subjects or their families years later.

A group of eight Latino young men and boys throwing up gang signs in front of a car at a park.

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Courtesy of Merrick Morton

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At the gallery, he showed me a photo on the wall of a woman from the '80s. She was dipping a cigarette into PCP (angel dust) among friends at a kickback. Then, he brings out his phone to show me another picture. It's the same woman from the photo, decades older, at his gallery show wearing a brightly colored traditional Mexican blouse and holding a sobriety chip.

Same person, different image, different life.

This might have not been the intention for Morton at the time he took her photo, but it seemed like a 180-degree moment, at least for this woman. It felt like a part of history, her history.

Merrick Morton's photography book, Clique: West Coast Portraits from the Hood, is available now and his work will be displayed at Eastern Projects until May 18. I recommend you see it.