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 collage of several public artworks across San Diego.
Public Arts
There are more than 800 pieces of public art in the city of San Diego, and hundreds more across the rest of San Diego County. The region received more than $10 million in state and federal grants for public art in the last five years.

San Diego street photographers make art in public that’s also about the public

They wear out shoe leather. They talk to strangers. They move through our shared spaces like ballerinas.

For them, the public is the source of their art.

San Diego street photographers like Ariana Drehsler spend their days depicting ordinary life. Drehsler is also a photographer for Voice of San Diego.

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“I actually started doing some street photography before I got into photojournalism,” she said. ”Just walking around taking photos.”

Street photography is one of the oldest photographic styles, according to Chantel Paul, the galleries and exhibitions coordinator for San Diego State University.

”Street photography is a style of photography that quite often is referred to as something that is really capturing the energy or essence of life on the street,” she said.

The desire to document San Diego comes out of a sense of pride, she said.

”I think the fact that people are working in our city in this way, it also elevates San Diego in a way,” Paul said. ”To say people want to share what the city is, they want to create a portrait of the city.”

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Jason Santiago, another street photographer, said this style is a cousin to photojournalism.

”Street’s like photojournalism without purpose,” he said. ”You know, I’m just documenting everyday life.”

Drehsler said even on assignment, sometimes the street gives her something beautiful.

”Months ago when I photographed the Point In Time count I saw this woman at 7 a.m. feeding the birds, the light was amazing and you see all these birds,” she said.

Street photography is about the public and it’s made in public. So in some ways, it is public art. And it can be seen by the public on social media sites like Instagram, Paul said.

”You can filter your feed to look at certain hashtags, to find certain accounts, and then you can keep following those, there’s a huge community aspect to Instagram,” she said.

KPBS is embarking on a series to explore public art. Follow this series for stories about the artists who make these works, why public art is created, what impact it has and where it can be found.

Matthew Bowler is an award-winning journalist from San Diego. Bowler comes from a long line of San Diego journalists. Both his father and grandfather worked as journalists covering San Diego. He is also a third generation San Diego State University graduate, where he studied art with a specialty in painting and printmaking. Bowler moved to the South of France after graduating from SDSU. While there he participated in many art exhibitions. The newspaper “La Marseillaise” called his work “les oeuvres impossible” or “the impossible works.” After his year in Provence, Bowler returned to San Diego and began to work as a freelance photographer for newspapers and magazines. Some years later, he discovered his passion for reporting the news, for getting at the truth, for impacting lives. Bowler is privileged to have received many San Diego Press Club Awards along with two Emmy's.