Gallery: Respect, Love and Desert Tales Are a Young Photojournalist's Legacy
Jessica Lum01© Jessica Lum
*"I came here to set the artist freeeee!!! Slabs = coolness," writes Neil Mallick, travelling musician, on a card collected by Jessica Lum for each person she photographed.*
02© Jessica Lum
*"I'm Slab City because of the idea of a "Still Free" America, in a Post-Apocalyptic world of hum bums," writes Jordan.*
Jessica Lum03© Jessica Lum
Jesslica Lum04© Jessica Lum
*Cookie Richardson first visited Slab City in late 2009 and decided to stay.*
Jessica Lum05© Jessica Lum
*East Jesus' Art Garden is an artist/squatter commune in Slab City€.*
Jessica Lum06© Jessica Lum
*Justin Davis, 36, founded and maintains the Slab City skate park. He's lived in Slab City for seven years.*
Jesslica Lum07© Jessica Lum
*Leonard Knight at his 80th Birthday celebration. Knight is the artist who created Salvation Mountain, a colorful 50-foot high painted hill crafted with adobe clay, at the center of which are the sculpted words "God is Love." God's love is the simple message Knight says he wants to share with the world.*
Jesslica Lum08© Jessica Lum
*Slab City resident and artist Leonard Knight has steadily built Salvation Mountain over the past forty years. It attracts tourists from all over the world.*
Jessica Lum09© Jessica Lum
*Frank Ross, a longtime Slab visitor who finally settled down and started a free Internet cafŽe.*
Jessica Lum10© Jessica Lum
*Joe, a.k.a. Gizmo Joe, a man who collects trinkets, old engines and spare parts with the intention of inventing something great.*
Jessica Lum11© Jessica Lum
*Cuervo, has travelled by mule for 15 years and has stopped through and lived temporarily in Slab City many times over the years.*
Jessica Lum12© Jessica Lum
*"What I do: Catch critters, paint, read (a lot!), sew, tell and listen to traveling tales, play music! (Dusty Meluster and the Musty Musty, Them Damned Young Livers). Why am I here: Sometimes you just need to get out of the city. Away from SNOW!" writes Ryan Cummings on his card.*
Jessica Lum13© Jessica Lum
*Peter, Dusty P. Greenhouse, a German traveller in America who drives "The Cool Bus."*
Jessica Lum14© Jessica Lum
*Allie Neill, a young woman who helps her parents care for five younger siblings.*
Jesslica Lum15© Jessica Lum
*Atreyu, 19, and his dog bandit have travelled the United States. They spent some time in Hawaii before returning to Southern California to stay for a season in Slab City.*
Jesslica Lum16© Jessica Lum
*"Zombies, nuclear war, Republicans, whatever; the world's going to end sooner or later. Might as well get a headstart on it. And where better than a reverse-engineered Garden of Eden? A dawn of man from the refuge of the old world. With hummingbirds," writes Phil Roland on his card.*
Jesslica Lum17© Jessica Lum
*Aerial view of Salvation Mountain, with Slab City in the distance.*
Jessica Lum18© Jessica Lum
*"I'm in Slab city for the freedom of the life," writes Willie Lane on his card.*
Jesslica Lum19© Jessica Lum
*Bathing in the hot springs of Slab City.*
Jesslica Lum20© Jessica Lum
*Karen Webb from Cincinnati, Ohio lives in Slab City for half the year every winter. Karen makes balloon art as a retirement hobby.*
Jessica Lum21© Jessica Lum
*Kat Bastard and Penny Puckett, met and married in Slab City.*
