The Huntington Library, Gallery, and Gardens’ “This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in LA Photographs” examines Los Angeles photography from the mid-19th century to the present.

Comprising approximately 250 images from the photographic collections of The Huntington as well as other institutions, collectors, and the artists themselves, the exhibit uses landscape and the human body as key themes through which both the city and its photographic self-image have been projected.

Curators Jennifer Watts and Claudia Bohn-Spector collaborated with graphic designer Hannes Willroth and kdA on the design of the dynamic graphics which support the organizing themes of the show.

The sheer volume of images overwhelmed the wall space of the gallery. In response kdA proposed a custom-designed folded steel armature system that provides sufficient space for the display of photos — without altering the building itself. This framing system grants each image its own presence as an individual work of art while harmonizing with the curators’ themes for the exhibit (“Dwell,” “Dream,” “Move,” “Work,” “Play,” “Clash,” “Garden”). Seen from above, these armatures form “traffic islands,” a quintessentially Southern Californian technique for managing circulation.

kdA’s steel framing system was designed to be easily disassembled for traveling abroad, and in 2009 and 2010 the exhibition was recreated at the Musee de l’Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Musee Nicephone Niepce in France.