Riding Through Compton

photography by Melodie McDaniel with texts by Compton Jr Posse founder Mayisha Akbar, Randy Savvy of the Compton Cowboys, Youth in Focus founder Walter Bodle, and poem excerpt by Los Angeles Poet Laureate Robin Coste Lewis

Riding Through Compton pairs three years of documentary photographs and formal portraits by Melodie McDaniel with interviews by Amelia Fleetwood conducted with participants of the Compton Jr Posse riding program.
Essays by CJP founder Mayisha Akbar and alum and the member-manager of the Compton Cowboys, Randy Savvy, speaks to the history and innovative future of the programs. Poet Laureate of Los Angeles Robin Coste Lewis contributes an excerpt from her poem "Frame;" afterword by Walter Bodle places the photographs and the importance of the CJP program in historical context. 

10 x 12 in.

Hardcover, 96 pages

Melodie McDaniel (b. Omaha, NE, 1967; resides in Los Angeles) is an American still photographer and director whose work challenges prevailing motifs of American identity, with a deep investment in the exploration of sub- and countercultures. She graduated in 1991 with a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. McDaniel has created over 200 advertising campaigns to date for companies that include Nike, Target, Yahoo, Sony, Disney, Levi’s, Chrysler and Delta. Her work has been published in magazines such as Vogue, Dazed, Interview, GQ and Spin; photographs from this series are being featured in the 2018 Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA).  This is her first monograph.