California Dreamers

California Dreamers is an intimate fly-on-the-wall photographic study of over 70 Californians, along with their personal testimonies and tales, revealing life behind closed doors in this iconic US state.

Sally Davies, acclaimed New York street photographer and author of New Yorkers, heads west to capture the images and listen to the voices of everyday Californians in their own homes, hoping to delve beneath the ubiquitous stereotypes. Generations of immigrants have headed west to plant their flag in the years following the great gold rush; movie makers, farmers, artists, oil drillers, starlets, writers and so many more. California became the destination for new beginnings, and it remains a place where one might strike it rich with a little luck, and a lot of hard work. In this collection of photos she has found light and space, swimming pools and enticing views of the stunning natural surroundings encroaching through the walls. Posing for her in bedrooms, garages and patios, Davies discovers vibrant multicultural communities, eccentric stories of hopes and dreams, tales of gridlocked traffic, urban sprawl, air pollution and all aspects of the entertainment industry. Among the voices are well-known figures, Linda Ramone and actor Eric McCormack, accompanied by a cast of models, producers, a high-court judge, artists, stylists, writers, musicians, lawyers, magicians and many more. The magic and glamour of California waves us in but that is only the first layer of the onion.

About the author: Sally Davies is a street photographer whose works are in the Museum of the City of New York and the NYC 9/11 Memorial Museum. She is the author of the acclaimed McDonalds Happy Meal project (1.5 million online hits) and her archive is part of the Downtown Collection of Fales Library at NYU. She took Allen Ginsberg’s old apartment when she moved from Canada to New York in 1983, and she still lives in the East Village with her dog Bun.