ROOTED

On View: April - June 2026

Civil Coffee Highland Park                         5629 N Figueroa St, LA

Rooted presents work by photographers whose practices are shaped by place — artists who understand that creative work does not emerge from urgency, but from time, familiarity, and a deep relationship with the environments that hold them.

The exhibition brings together photographers Jorden DeGaetano and Ian Merzwinski. Both artists approaches image-making as a form of observation, returning again and again to the landscapes, rituals, and moments that have shaped their way of seeing. Their photographs are not simply captured — they are grown through patience and presence.

Civil Coffee has always operated with the same philosophy. A café is not just a place to drink coffee, but a place where routine becomes ritual and community takes root. Within these everyday spaces, people gather, pause, and find the conditions that allow creativity to emerge.

Rooted reflects on what artists — and communities — need in order to grow: a sense of place, a sense of belonging, and the quiet stability of returning to the same ground again and again.

Las raíces hacen posible el florecer.

Purchase Inquires
Two men standing side by side in a well-lit modern interior, with one resting a hand on a wooden counter, both looking at the camera. The man on the left is wearing a white shirt and has curly dark hair, while the man on the right is wearing a gray sweater and has wavy brown hair.
A group of five friends sitting together at a bar or restaurant, smiling and enjoying each other's company.
Interior of a modern cafe or restaurant with wooden tables and white shelving displaying boxed glassware and jars. The upper wall has a dark blue wainscoting, and the walls are decorated with framed photographs. Pendant and bare bulb lighting hang from the ceiling, and there is patterned tile flooring.
People gathering and standing in a busy cafe or restaurant with artwork on the walls and patterned tile flooring.

Featured Artists

A young man with curly hair and a beard standing indoors near a large window, wearing a black t-shirt and gray pants, with tattoos on his arms and a necklace with a hamsa pendant.

Jorden Degaetano

A young man with light skin, brown hair, and blue eyes smiling at the camera, wearing a green patterned button-up shirt, indoors with gray walls and some equipment in the background.

Jorden DeGaetano is guided by intuition, often searching for what is felt beyond what is explicitly seen. Raised between Seattle and Los Angeles, his work carries a natural tension between lightness and introspection, centered on gesture and the fleeting intersections between people and landscape.

The grandson of Warren Wilson, a trailblazing broadcast journalist and among the first Black reporters on television in California, DeGaetano’s perspective is shaped by a lineage rooted in storytelling, cultural record, and access to moments often just out of reach. While their mediums differ, a shared throughline remains: an instinct to observe closely, claim one’s voice, and shape work that amplifies the identities and lived experiences of others.

Ian Merzwinski

Learn more

Ian Merzwinski is an award winning Los Angeles based photographer whose work explores scenic landscapes taken across the globe. Raised in a rural landscape in Northern California, he tends to have a grounded, peaceful nature, that is felt through his photos. He emphasizes stillness, composition, and the use of natural light, with film being a significant influence on his style. It evokes a sense of timelessness and nostalgia, allowing you to experience a photo in a unique way by immersing you in the scene.

Learn more

Show Catalogue

A person with a dark skin tone is holding up their middle finger, with a small bee perched on it. The photo is in black and white with a plain background.

Jorden DeGaetano
A Different Tune, 2024
archival pigment print
36 x 24 inches (91.44 x 60.96 cm)
framed: 41 1/2 x 29 inches (105.41 x 73.66)

Black and white photo of a hand holding a ladybug on the index finger, with a blurred background featuring sunlight and bokeh.

Jorden DeGaetano
A Message of Hope, 2024
archival pigment print
36 x 24 inches (91.44 x 60.96 cm)
framed: 41 1/2 x 29 inches (105.41 x 73.66)

Sunlit rustic building with a pinkish-orange peeling wall, a window with a metal grill, potted plants, and a table covered with a cloth on a cobblestone street.

Ian Merzwinski
64th & Lock (Rome, Italy), 2025
archival pigment print
36 x 24 inches (91.44 x 60.96 cm)
framed: 37 1/2 x 25 1/2 (95.25 x 64.77 cm)

Sunlight coming through a tall wooden window, casting shadows on a stone wall inside a building with classic architecture.

Ian Merzwinski
Castle by Two (Mexico City, Mexico), 2024
archival pigment print
30 x 20 inches (76.2 x 50.8 cm)
framed: 31 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches (80.01 x 54.61 cm)

Two young men jumping into a lake from the back of a boat with hills and trees in the background, in black and white.
Person lying down on sand dune in a desert landscape with rolling dunes and distant mountains

Jorden DeGaetano
Breaking Spring, 2025
archival pigment print
20 x 30 inches (50.8 x 76.2 cm)
framed: 25 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches (64.77 x 90.17 cm)

Jorden DeGaetano
A Battle Between More and Less, 2024
archival pigment print
40 x 60 inches (101.6 x 152.4 cm)
framed: 42 x 62 inches (106.68 x 157.48 cm)

Coastal town with colorful buildings, a church with a bell tower, and boats in the water, set against green mountains and cliffs.

Ian Merzwinski
Ombrello D’oro (Amalfi Coast, Italy), 2025
archival pigment print
32 x 48 inches (81.28 x 121.91 cm)
framed: 33 1/2 x 49 1/2 inches (85.09 x 125.73 cm)

A coastal landscape with a boat on the water, hillside homes, and mountains in the background under a partly cloudy sky.

Ian Merzwinski
Mother's View (Amalfi Coast, Italy), 2025
archival pigment print
30 x 20 inches (76.2 x 50.8 cm)
framed: 31 1/2 x 21 1/2 (80.01 x 54.61 cm)