MIGUEL A. BEJARANO
FROM THE FIELD TO BEHIND THE LENS
Biography
Miguel Angel Bejarano is an artist and anthropologist from Los Angeles, California. He received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from California State University, Fullerton in 2004. After graduating, Miguel worked as a laborer for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. During his lunch breaks, Miguel began photographing the machines and landscapes that surrounded the landfill where he worked. His passion for photography led him to Otis College of Art and Design, where he received a certificate of photography in 2014. Miguel continues to explore his life and world from behind a wide variety of cameras.
Artist Statement
I believe photography is the art of capturing light and time. I create images that reflect and illustrate my vision of who I am and what I see. I like to turn thoughts into images, using my imagination, to invent something new. Cameras are tools I use to materialize my vision, and I have a collection each with its own personality and quirks. For me the final image is the end and the process the means. Having that final image and sharing my vision with others gives me a great sense of fulfillment. Photography allows me to understand the world and gives me the ability to have my own unique perspective on what I see.
CURATION
2005 Curator of the Pio Pico Historical Photographic Exhibit
Whittier Museum, in exhibit since 2005
SOLO SHOWS
2015 "Suburban Ruins: Bombay Beach at the Salton Sea, California," curated by Ingrid
Dietrich, San Pedro CVB Visitors Center, Los Angeles, CA
2014 “This Corner of the Earth,” curated by Ingrid Dietrich, San Pedro CVB Visitors
Center, Los Angeles, CA
GROUP SHOWS
2015 "Stories," juried exhibition by Zsolt Báthori, Ph21 Gallery, Budapest, Hungary
"Abandoned: Forgotten Rural America," juried exhibition, LithaMoonGallery,
Greensboro, Georgia
“MobileMagic XIX,” juried by Michael and Chelsea Granger, LightBox
Photographic Gallery, Astoria, Oregon
“Plastic Fantastic Group Show VI,” juried by Susan Burnstine, LightBox
Photographic Gallery, Astoria, Oregon
“Just Imagine – Surrealism in a Digital World,” curated by Ingrid Dietrich, San
Pedro CVB Visitors Center, Los Angeles, CA
“MobileMagic XVIII,” juried by Polly Chandler, LightBox Photographic Gallery,
Astoria, Oregon
2014 “Just Imagine,” organized by San Pedro International Film Festival, Pop up
gallery, San Pedro, CA
“Art of Dance – A Group Exhibition,” curated by Gloria Plascencia, Frame & Art
Store and Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA
“What a Pair,” breast cancer fundraiser organized by Soroptimist International,
Croatian Cultural Center of Greater Los Angeles, CA
“San Pedro in the Eyes Of,” curated by Ingrid Dietrich, San Pedro CVB Visitors
Center, Los Angeles, CA
2013 “Nature Interrupted,” curated by Ginger Van Hook, Otis College of Art and Design,
Los Angeles, CA
PUBLICATIONS
2015 SnapitSeeit.com, Commerce Street Construction
lightbox-photographic.com 2015 MobileMagic XIX, Los Angeles Triforium and City
Hall, and Hall of Decisions
@Polaroid (official Instagram), The Pilgrims II
lenscratch.com, 2015 Cell Phone Photo Exhibition, Dark Alley
lightbox-photographic.com 2015 MobileMagic XVIII, Gray Wolf
2014 San Pedro Today, March 2014
EDUCATION
2013 Otis College of Art and Design Continuing Education
Certificate in Photography
2004 California State University, Fullerton
Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology