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Preview: Ivar Wigan “The God” ~ Opens May 21 at Little Big Man Gallery

Scottish photographer Ivar Wigan’s first show in the United States will be in L.A. this Saturday, May 21. His photographs of street culture mostly shot in Miami, Atlanta, and New Orleans have won praise and acclaim around the world for the unique documentation of a subculture that is often imitated and stylized, but rarely seen in an intimate way. Please keep reading for preview images and the official press release...

Ivar Wigan "The God"
Little Big Man Gallery
1427 E. 4th Street, Unit #2, Los Angeles, CA 90033
Opens Saturday, May 21 from 6-9pm

Official press release:

Scottish Photographer, Ivar Wigan, presents a series of images taken around the street culture associated with the urban music scene of the American South. Captured on the urban fringes of multiple cities—predominately from Miami, Atlanta and New Orleans—the images are a defiant celebration of a marginalized and often demonized culture, here raised to iconographic status and suffused with a sense of admiration and empathy.

To understand Wigan’s triumphal urges, it is perhaps helpful to consider the chosen title for the series. In slang taken from the community he documents, a ‘God’ is a veteran hustler—someone who has either survived the ‘streets’ and/or the complex maze of America’s prison system. This lionization of what might be considered a transgressive community is a central theme of Wigan’s work. “I saw parallels between people outside the law and the classical allusion,” says Wigan. Where some might perceive danger and the unseemly, Wigan proposes a heroic pantheon. “Within the community, there is a huge amount of time spent on refining the image—there are classical ideas of beauty present in the way people present themselves.”

The uniqueness of "The Gods" has won acclaim and recognition from the British Journal of Photography, Feature Shoot Magazine, i-D Magazine, Hunger Magazineand VICE for documenting a culture that is often misunderstood.

Tough Game
Ivar Wigan_Deep South_2015
Ivar Wigan_The Business_2012
Ivar Wigan_Python_2013
Ivar Wigan_The 305_2013
Ivar Wigan_The Gods_2012
Ivar Wigan_Pink Panther_2011
Ivar Wigan_Bright Lights_2014
Ivar Wigan_Brooklyn Girls On Holiday_2010
Ivar Wigan_Heat_2013
Ivar Wigan_Princess_2012
Ivar Wigan_Bloods_2012
Ivar Wigan_Athletes_2011
Ivar Wigan_Lux Interior_2012
Ivar Wigan_Venice_2010
Ivar Wigan_Pool Party_2010
Ivar Wigan_The Hotel Geneva_2010
Ivar Wigan_Black Cherry_2011
Ivar Wigan_Red Light_2012

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