Yogan Muller was Artist-in-Residence at the Pando at Maryknoll campus for a short weekend in December, 2019. Yogan is a landscape scholar, photographer and instructor. He has a practice-based PhD in landscape photography and epistemology from ENSAV La Cambre and Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. He currently teaches courses at UCLA as a visiting professor.
Yogan came to Maryknoll with the intention of exploring the nature/culture dichotomy present in the neighboring town of Arcadia. He chose Arcadia due to the name being a mainstay in Western culture; in his words, it is “an age-old symbol of lush pastoral nature. The fact that an ‘Arcadia’ existed in one of the most urbanized areas of the world really caught my attention.”
He spent three whole days photographing olive trees by the Santa Anita racetrack which all were over 100-years old. Yogan made his daily trek to Arcadia from Maryknoll via bike and bus. He noted that this daily journey felt like a pilgrimage. Aside from photography, Yogan also worked the land at Maryknoll, helping to mulch, weed and tend the garden. All things he describes as a “spiritual” experience.
Yogan’s time at Maryknoll helped to expand his horizons. He comments: “After the residency, I knew my LA project was going to be more than just about Arcadia.” It helped him clarify and define his artistic vision for the next years to come as a new, LA resident.
You can find more of Yogan’s work here: Instagram (@yoganmullerstudio) and Twitter (@yogan_muller).