The First Car by Adali Schell

Growing up in Los Angeles, some of my earliest memories were made in the car. Specifically, my dad’s vintage 1980s Mercedes – which he converted to run on vegetable oil – acted as my respite. The hum of the engine, the tears in the leather interior and the sound of his burned CD’s accompanied my earliest understanding of L.A. I remember the sense of privacy that the car provided me, and how it enabled my looking. In 2022, I was commissioned by The New York Times to photograph my friends in their first cars. Having spent my final teenage years in isolation due to the pandemic, the car provided me with a space to come back into touch with my community and with L.A. The article, entitled Magic of Your First Car, was published in February 2023, and exhibited internationally at Les Rencontres d’Arles and the Museum of Warsaw in July 2023.