For the White Wax series, Brandon Tauszik took all his pictures at night, using roughly the same exposure. It looks like a very basic flash was also used. The subject matter is often candles and empty bottles of alcohol arranged on sidewalks or on the side of the road. Very rarely are people featured in these photographs. All of these photos are taken in Oakland, California.
What I feel the White Wax series does is it sheds light on a cultural practice that is a response to the gang violence that exists in Oakland. These are very similar to shrines I have seen on the side of highways and backroads here in Virginia of people who have died in automobile accidents, but according to the article on featureshoot.com, these shrines are often gone within 10 days. I think one of the reasons these are all taken at night is that many of these deaths that are being memorialized often take place at night as well. In a sense Brandon is further memorializing these victims by documenting their shrines into a more permanent medium. The shrines eventually disappear, but these photographs will remain for far longer.
Image Source: Featureshoot.com
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