John T. Riddle Jr., Artist
Ghetto Merchant
, 1966
Medium
Mixed media
Dimensions
41 in. (104.1 cm) tall
Credit Line
Courtesy of Claude and Anne Booker, Los Angeles. Photo by Ed Glendinning
John Riddle created Ghetto Merchant from the debris of a cash register he found in a burned-out storefront during the Watts rebellion. He turned to assemblage for its ability to communicate the physicality of black Los Angeles in the wake of the Watts uprising.