In Situ is an invitation to reconsider the “ordinary,” in an extraordinary way. Los Angeles is the muse. In this series, James disregards elements such as traffic congestion, people, and pollution. Instead, focusing on innocuous everyday elements, including street signs and palm trees. Turning these elements into symbols that exert their emotive energy to powerful effect, impelling the viewers’ acknowledgment of beauty in the mundane. By examining a sign’s personal history, graffiti, age, weather damage, and general mistreatment, the area surrounding them can become a microcosm and a touchstone. Our world is filled with things that provide basic reliable functions yet remain unacknowledged. Fading into the environment the signs live in the mental fog of things that are necessary but never considered. The dust in the corner. The noise of modern life.