Homeboy Industries Portraits by Mike Saijo

Artist Mike Saijo just completed a book piece series of eighteen portraits of members of Homeboy Industries, the nation's largest gang-intervention program, founded by Jesuit priest Father Gregory Boyle. Laid onto pages of Father G's book, Tattoos on the Heart, each portrait has a story. The homeboy above, on the weekend before Mike shot his portrait, had a gun pulled on him, but the trigger jammed, and he survived. He appears on the pages of the first chapter, God, I Guess.

Kelvin's Painting of Buildings

Kelvin started painting lessons with Mike in the back of a small Taiwanese tea shop in Arcadia several years ago. Kelvin, who is autistic, paints with bright, vibrant colors using acrylic, and focusing on detail, taking his time, and building concentration.

Evergreen Cemetery

We spent the afternoon on Memorial Day at Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights, on the Eastside of Los Angeles. American flags and flowers were laid by the tombstones of many soldiers killed in battle. 

Hayashi / Saijo Collaboration

Artist Mike Saijo met textile master, Setsuko Hayashi, known to her students as Hayashi Sensei (林先生), a few years ago when he attended one of her classes. They have since started collaborating every week to create custom silk batik (ろうけつ染めの絹) drapes and silk tie dye scarves using a 400 year old Japanese method that dates back to the Edo Period.  I documented them during production of one of their custom silk drapes when they were applying a batik wax drawing on silk by hand.