“It’s a social experiment really,” explains Kana Manglapus of her first solo exhibition #beatourist on display at Venice Beach’s Cadillac Hotel, just blocks from the water. The gallerist-turned-photographer gathered a collection of her Instagram photos that she says dares viewers to “go for a ride down the road less traveled.” Manglapus, who has lived off Venice’s Abbot Kinney for seven and a half years operating Kana Manglapus Projects gallery, is certainly not a visitor to the beach town, but for this assemblage of images, she’s adopted a tourist’s perspective. She says she understands the viewpoint of a sightseer due to a life spent traveling. Manglapus left the Philippines as a one-year-old to relocate with her family to New York and eventually San Francisco (Manglapus is planning a fundraiser set for December 13, for Filipino victims of Typhoon Haiyan). Since then, she’s lived in Manila, Jakarta, Mexico City, Taipei, Berlin, and Nice. She added Los Angeles to the list while completing a degree in journalism at the University of Southern California, and traveled to Rome and countless other cities while working for the Japan Times. Manglapus taps into her wanderlust with the new exhibition. Manglapus drew inspiration from California and Mexico for the collection of images taken of friends, neighbors, vacations and even her six-year-old daughter, Genevieve, and son James, who is four.

“This one is called the ‘Existential Crisis,’” says Manglapus, pointing to a photo of her son who is brokenheartedly staring back at the Santa Monica Pier on a summer night. “We told him it was time to leave the beach!” she says. There are several photos of the Pier in the show, including one Manglapus shot during flight lessons in Big Bear. The exhibition is on display through December 8, and proceeds benefit the Venice Family Clinic. Manglapus is currently at work on a new set of Southern California-inspired Instagrams of surf lessons she’s been taking for a year now. When she reflects on the snap-and-post phenomenon, Manglapus notes that she’s a big fan. “I really can’t think of any disadvantages,” Manglapus says. And while she sometimes shoots with her Fuji X-Pro, the photographer notes that “Instagram is an integral part of our lives, it’s the easiest way to always document what’s going on.”

By Katie Balis

Pictured: Kana Manglapus
Photo by Melissa Manning Photography for The Look Partnership LLC

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