Stories from Père Lachaise – Carolyn Campbell’s Photographic Art Springs to Life

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Ooh la la – photographic artist and author Carolyn Campbell’s bestselling book, City of Immortals: Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris came to life at the Raymond Kabbatz Theatre in Los Angeles November 6th.

An immersive multi-disciplinary festival, the 6-hour event paid tribute to the many artists resting in the cemetery from Bizet to Jim Morrison.

The event included a photographic exhibition, film screening, artist talks, and book signing, as well as tasty baguettes and champagne.  

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While Campbell’s large-scale prints of her beautiful photographs were the centerpiece of the exhibition, the ultimate interpretation of these works and the book itself came in the form of living performance artists interpreting the works of the composers, poets, dancers, and visual artist who now reside in the monumentally sculptural cemetery.

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The day unfolded with a screening of the documentary Forever from Heddy Honigmann, a tour of the cemetery that was powerfully poignant and meditative, a beautiful overview of the cemetery’s environment and emotional impact.

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Following the film, Campbell conducted her first presentation and q and a with audience members, showing slides of her images and describing her visits to Père Lachaise. After Campbell’s own book signing, it was time for a second talk, and the dramatic live performance.

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A tour de force narrated by the character of Isadora Duncan, viewers were led into the world of the cemetery’s great residents, from Frédéric Chopin, Edith Piaf, Georges Bizet, and Jim Morrison, to a witty and riveting Can-Can dancer finale that drew people out of their seats.

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Kacie Devaney wrote the original play, Stores from Pere Lachaise. Devaney also played Duncan, and choreographed the dancers in the production, which was directed by Pierre Leloup, the director of the Raymond Kabbaz Theatre.

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Performances were top notch, with incredible voicing and sinuous, well-choreographed dances.  The cast members, many of whom took on multiple roles, included: Cedric Berry, Victoria Kirsch, Shana Blake Hill, Nora Germain, Chloé Perrier, Cabaret Versatile, Félixe de Becker, and Kacie Devaney. Kirsch, a fine pianist, also served as music director. Berry’s brilliant baritone was a special standout.

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It was a fitting tribute to and full-on entertainment about an other-worldly place, as depicted in Campbell’s City of Immortals. The non-fiction work, as gracefully written as it is photographed, features 100 color photos along with a fold-out map of Père-Lachaise Cemetery, which is sure to encourage a visit.  

Copies of the book are sold through Village Well, an independent bookstore in Culver City – order there, or via Amazon.

Genie Davis; photos, Carolyn Campbell; Genie Davis

Skirball Cultural Center Goes Where No Man Has Gone Before

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Star Trek Exploring New Worlds is a delightful exhibition that explores the quite relevant themes the series – in all its iterations – sought to explore. A history of the sci fi show’s production – we can thank Lucille Ball in part, for her belief in the project when others found it too costly or unappealing; costumes; culture; and various characters are all a part of a thoroughly engaging collection.

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Props and artifacts, the storyline of each series and spin-off, and production models are all there. Delightfully well-curated, the exhibition treats the series and both its message and artistic design with both reverence and humor. Pose in the Captain’s chair or try out your prop phasers and get beamed up in a variety of video scenes you can watch enfold via Blue Screen magic.

As much fun as the exhibition is, it is the unfolding of its cultural impact, its messages of inclusiveness and kindness that both the Skirball, and the series itself, explores to purpose. To say that Star Trek the series went where no series had gone before is entirely true. It introduced many of the concepts we now discuss in daily life, as well as some classic catch phrases. It took an early look at the issues and understandings we now strive to reach, or at least attempt to do so, including equality between cultures and races as well as between men and women. One of the reasons for both the original series’ appeal and that of the iterations that came after it, is that the tenets it holds most dear, of learning to accept one another and our differences, never gets old.

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Thematically, tolerance, reverent history, championship for those who need championing, and a willingness to explore are all inherent in the Skirball’s own mission, adding further resonance to the exhibition.

Both charming and informative, with savvy insider production knowledge and an intelligent look at the series’ impact on viewers and the entertainment industry, Exploring New Worlds offers a smart look at a pop-culture phenomena viewed through a lens of appreciation and the hope for a better tomorrow.

Heartily wishing the Skirball Cultural Center’s deeply enjoyable exploration of Star Trek will live long and prosper. The exhibition runs through February 20th, 2022, a space trip for all ages.

Happy Hauntings All Year Joy Ray Haunts in Ghost Visions

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Closing on Halloween and with a Zoom-friendly séance, Joy Ray’s Ghost Visions was perhaps the most seasonally accurate hosting of an art exhibition to appear in greater Los Angeles. The always provocative artist hosted a robust opening, a well-attended art talk, and the aforementioned magical séance, but it is Ray’s art itself which haunts with a lushly dark beauty.

Ghost Visions: A Joy Ray Solo Show, installation view

From black, dense, and fanciful sculptural work, such as the spooky “Diadem” and “The Futility of Consent,” to lushly textural wall art and mysterious plasma cut shapes on metal, Ray’s work here has an otherworldly quality that is entirely intentional.

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Fabric based wall art sometimes feels richly balanced, visceral both in terms of texture and visual layers. Like melted artifacts from a fire in a haunted house, her dimensional sculptures range from a blackened bat mobile with shiny black paint and a seeming growth of sand to a sand obscured blackened kneeling child figure in “Thoughts and Prayers.” These found objects made sculpture are perhaps the most spooky element of the exhibition, witty and dark, both literally and figuratively.

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Wall art includes materials with their own “past life,” materials and repurposed garments purchased at thrift stores, specifically the denim material used for jeans.  Much of this work has a metallic appearance, alight with a kind of inner, silvery glow, as with the striated “Spirit Duplicator.”

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Rusted metal pieces comprise other, smaller sculptures in which the artist has described her process of metal sculptural use as a process in which the conditions she creates in determine the final outcome – a collaboration, if you will, with the spirit world, or at least the environmental one. Standing rectangular works feature kinetic scrawls akin to a signature, wave like and not quite intelligible. These are the works the artist created during a six way stay at the Chicago School of the Arts Institute, using a CMT plasma cutter and a simple string as the basis from which to cut.  Each 4 x 11 piece has patterns cut directly into steel, and are reminiscent of a name plate, the kind a ghost or sea nymph would leave on an office desk.

Dark and experimental, Ghost Visions is also experiential – viewers could enjoy a haunted moment or two contemplating each work. The exhibition is also playful, an invitation into another realm. Some of the works are available for viewing through Shockboxx’s Artsy page, at

https://www.artsy.net/show/shockboxx-1-ghost-visions-a-joy-ray-solo-show?sort=partner_show_position. If you missed the show in person, or if you’d simply like to bring a little ghostly glamor into your life, be sure to make a visit

Brandon Lomax (RE)Place Encourages Relationships with Nature

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A new site-specific sculptural installation is opening at the California Botanic Garden in Claremont on November 13th. Artist Brandon Lomax combines fine art and scientific horticulture in vividly motion-filled sculptures. His art in the garden is beautifully designed to fit the environment. Immersive experiences tied to natural cycles are the thematic components of many of his many sculptural and installation works. Empathetic and encompassing, Lomax reminds viewers and exhibition participants of their place in the universe.

In this exhibition, Lomax’s sculptural works will be shown at various stages of completion, from fully fired clay works as durable as stone, to unfired clay pieces more vulnerable to the weather and natural garden elements. Guided by garden horticulturists, Lomax has embedded some works with native plant species. During the exhibition, which will run until June 2022, these unfired works will disintegrate and rejoin the soil, their once solid forms replaced by new plants.

The work is designed to reference many meanings about place, restoration, and diversity, reminding viewers that we’re all vital contributors, and instilling the hope that human beings can celebrate our own biodiversity. Lomax’s wish is for us to work together to create a more positive symbiotic relationship with each other and the earth itself. Lomax himself is currently completely a master’s degree in ecology at the Burren College of Art in County Clare, Ireland.

His works here suggest the impermanent transience of population diversity within a given place. Some pieces, just like plants and people, last far longer than others, with the fired works serving as monuments to sustainability, and unfired pieces representing the natural cycle of selection and species dominance. 

On opening day, Lomax will be onsite at the California Botanic Garden for some public workshops. While space is limited, viewers can participate in a public installation using unfired clay infused with native plant seeds to create small sculptures. These will be added to the artist’s own large-scale installation. Participants are encouraged to return periodically to the site over its 7-month span to see how their own sculptural works transform to native flora. To check availability, visit https://www.calbg.org/events-programs/events 

Garden hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free for members; tickets: https://www.calbg.org/

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by artist