West Oakland Transformations: Dilapidated Shack to Artistic Home
West Oakland, California, is often portrayed negatively in mainstream American media. But when I point my camera at the community’s people, I capture images of resilience, strength, and beauty. Like a formerly dilapidated shack transformed into an artistic home.
Original Photograph by Malcolm Ryder: ‘Dilapidated shack to artistic home,’ digital photograph, 24 x 36 inches (2023).
In the media of mainstream America, West Oakland — an urban neighborhood on the eastern side of California’s San Francisco Bay — is often portrayed very negatively. We are barraged almost daily by harsh pictures and words describing poverty, crime, unemployment, and desperation. But when I point my camera at the people of West Oakland, I see the elegance of resilience. The beauty of defiance. And the wonder of creative expression. One day, I walked along one of the streets that used to be part of a thriving middle-class neighborhood a few decades ago — before concrete highways and elevated tracks decimated livelihoods and lives — and noticed a small home. It struck me because what had previously been a run-down shack had been transformed into a piece of art by an unhoused person. That person now not only has a solid roof over his head but has rooted himself to the land in a creatively beautiful way.
Malcolm Ryder (he) is a photographer and community organizer. He is inspired to capture and help reinvigorate the resilient creativity he believes is inherent in human beings, especially those who persevere steadfastly in the face of adversity.
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