1st place
gold star award
Daniel Skwarna
canada
title
Desert Dweller
Slabbers are a motley crew. The year-round population is modest. Roughy fifty stay through July and August when temperatures are mercurial and even rattlesnakes seek the shade of campers.
Their ability to endure inhuman conditions year after year is matched only by a shared distaste for the gridded boiler-plate of life. Many are on SSI, SSDI, or just plain broke. Modern American pioneers, claiming their slab and declaring themselves master. A free range society of feral folks occupying a chunk of desert in Southern California.
He has worked in the United States, Iceland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Cuba,
Israel and the West Bank, Turkey, Greece, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria,
Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Serbia Croatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Kosovo,
Slovakia, Sarajevo, Poland, and Russia.
Daniel attended the University of Toronto and holds a degree in History, Fine
Art History, and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. He is currently pursuing
personal projects in the Southwestern United States.
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entry description
Desert Dweller is an analog long-form personal documentary project that explores the squatter community of Slab City - an off grid bunch of felons, artists, veterans, and impoverished Americans living on the remains of a WWII marine base in the Sonoran Desert, California.Slabbers are a motley crew. The year-round population is modest. Roughy fifty stay through July and August when temperatures are mercurial and even rattlesnakes seek the shade of campers.
Their ability to endure inhuman conditions year after year is matched only by a shared distaste for the gridded boiler-plate of life. Many are on SSI, SSDI, or just plain broke. Modern American pioneers, claiming their slab and declaring themselves master. A free range society of feral folks occupying a chunk of desert in Southern California.
about the photographer
Daniel Skwarna is a Toronto-based documentary and editorial photographer.He has worked in the United States, Iceland, England, Scotland, Ireland, Cuba,
Israel and the West Bank, Turkey, Greece, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria,
Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Serbia Croatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Kosovo,
Slovakia, Sarajevo, Poland, and Russia.
Daniel attended the University of Toronto and holds a degree in History, Fine
Art History, and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. He is currently pursuing
personal projects in the Southwestern United States.
back to gallery