As soon as Jack Walker turned 16, it was time to put his plan into motion. The first course of action would be to apply to Trader Joe’s, specifically the Costa Mesa location. Walker could not care less about groceries nor did he really care about the company benefits that would be offered to him. The main reason why he wanted to work there was because of who he would get to call his co-worker: Zamar Velez, his favorite photographer.
During that year, Walker published his first zine, a small-scale staple-bound photo book entitled “Pictures and such.” He scraped together what he earned from Trader Joe’s – cash and mentorship from his newfound friend Velez – and put on his first show at 17 years old.
“I think if they would have known that it was a 17-year-old renting out the space, they wouldn’t have done it, let alone the printing companies wouldn’t have done it,” Walker said. “But it worked out, and honestly, I’m on my fifth show now, and I don’t really have a great definition of what I’m doing; I just kind of know what needs to be done and I go for it.”
Now, nearly five years later, Walker, a third-year graphic design major, with four exhibitions, five zines, one book and thousands of photographs under his belt, is still just getting started. Four weeks on the heels of his first gallery show at Point Loma Nazarene University centered around his first photobook “The Bolt,” he is on to the next.
The latest collection of work, set to display in Downtown San Diego, centers around his fifth zine, entitled “Route 2-21.” The project stems from a fake ID, its address and the journey to get there.
When Walker decided to pursue this project over the summer, he admits, he was oblivious to the actual distance between Orange County, CA and Portland, OR. Nonetheless, he said, he wasn’t turned away by the 1,001-mile drive and when his friend could no longer join, he took the trip solo.
“I drove over 2,000 total miles to my fake ID,” Walker said. “I got to this address, and I thought to myself: ‘What am I doing here? Why did I do this?’”
The house on Hillview Terrace looked like any other suburban home – nothing magical to it. He parked his car and took out his 35mm camera, a Fujifilm Silvi. Two children riding bikes down the street, passed the house. As their hair followed behind, carried by the speed of their ride, Walker applied slight pressure with his forefinger, the lens opened to capture a moment in time.
“I just showed [the picture] to a girl that’s from Oregon. She was like, ‘That feels like a snapshot of my childhood,’” Walker said. “Being from Southern California and then just pulling up, and taking a photo – if I could recreate that [feeling], just through taking a photo, I told her: ‘I don’t think you realize how much that actually means to me.’”
The zine’s concept, he admits, may raise some eyebrows on a Nazarene campus.
“It’s going to turn a lot of people away, especially at a school like Point Loma, where you got this kid driving to their fake ID address,” Walker said. “But it’s also going to intrigue a lot of people. And I don’t think either reaction is valid or not. I think either way, it makes sense.”
While the specific address was his flashpoint, he said, the project is about the journey; it’s a tale about coming of age in the unknown. For a boy born and raised in Orange County, the things that feel like him – red leather, Jay Critch music and Ben Davis gorilla-cut pants – were not commonplace in the small towns he found himself wandering through.
“Even getting to Portland, I was just like, ‘This place is so weird,’ and I actually ended up liking it, but I just thought to myself: ‘This is nothing like me,’” he said. “The whole thing, on the way there just didn’t feel like me. You know, these places didn’t feel like places I belonged to, but at the same time, it felt right to be there.”
Art Professor and Professional Photographer Lael Corbin has been working with Walker through an independent study, helping him tie together “Route 2-21.”
“There’s a willingness to really learn and to see things and when I look at [Walker’s] photographs that comes through,” Corbin said. “He seems to be looking at the physical stuff that’s around him for this trip. The stuff he was documenting – he’s paying attention to the environments around him, to the people around him.”
He said Walker has an eye for finding beauty in things others might not typically take a second glance at.
“There’s a picture taken in a cafe of two coffee pots with a sign behind it that says no minors,” Corbin said. “I think he really likes it because of the no minors, which relates directly to the work. I love the shot because it isn’t traditionally beautiful, and yet it’s a beautiful shot. The textures, the colors that are in it – it’s a very controlled color palette.”
For Walker, the goal of his photography, he said, is to show how he interprets the world.
“There’s a lot of things that I don’t have in my bag of tricks; there’s a lot of photographers that have better technical skills, or have better connections, or more money, or, they’re more rooted in the industry. And there’s a lot of things I don’t have, but what I do have is my approach, and what that is is really making it me,” he said.
While there’s nothing revolutionary nor particularly unique about an artist translating themself into their art, Walker said, it’s something he thinks is overlooked.
“Some people have all of the sauce, except for themselves which really is the secret ingredient,” he said.
Isaiah Beasley, a Los Angeles-based visual artist, has known Walker since 2019. He said they first connected after Walker sent him a direct message on Instagram saying he liked his photos and wanted to meet up. Over the years, they have collaborated with and supported each other’s art. He said it’s been exciting to watch Walker’s journey.
“It’s cool to see his references change, too,” Beasley said. “When I first met him, which we all were – I don’t want to get on him – but we were Tyler [the Creator] stans. But then a couple years later, he’s showing me albums that were just really cool experimental stuff. And his photography influences have changed; it’s just cool to see [him] grow. It’s like watching an artist in real time.”
In the past five years, Walker said his art hasn’t drastically shifted, he is still grasping onto his youth as much as he can within his work. It’s his taste that’s been refined, he said.
“My way of souvenirs is photo books,” Walker said. “You can go on Pinterest, and you can go on Instagram, but you’re just being fed the same garbage everyone else is being fed. I think the only way you can really expand your taste is getting out into events and going to shows, going to museums, going to openings and just getting yourself out there.”
Currently, his top three favorite photo books consist of a collection of New York street photography, a zine made by Beasley and an entire book of compiled images of Kim Il Sung, the former dictator of North Korea, looking at things.
“The great thing about books and photo books in general is there’s not 3,000 people looking at the same time, it’s just you,” Walker said. “So I really find that it’s almost a secret weapon.”
Walker’s previous project, “The Bolt,” became his first photography book, but for “Route 2-21” he’s returning to a zine format.
“Some of the reason why ‘Route 2-21’ is a zine is because it’s a fun project that’s not meant to be taken too seriously,” he said. “And that’s not because zines can’t be taken seriously, but for something like the ‘Bolt,’ it was me proving myself as an artist and as someone that felt like I wasn’t being taken seriously.”
While Walker sees this work as a more playful departure from his last endeavor, he said its playfulness is balanced out by his exploration of identity, a sentiment echoed by Corbin.
“I think that he’s found a really playful and mischievous way of pushing back on who he thinks he should be versus who he wants to be,” Corbin said. “I actually think what he’s doing is very mature and is shedding a light on something that lots of people on this campus are dealing with. You know, you’re all around the same age, and you’re all exploring who you may or may not be in your life and who you become.”
“Route 2-21” will take place on Friday Dec. 13 – Walker’s 21 birthday – in Downtown San Diego. For more information on the event visit Walker’s instagram @jwa1ks
Grace Chaves 
Grace Barrera