For Adam de Boer, textile processes become a means of navigating personal questions of place and inheritance. Combining traditional Javanese batik techniques with a Western painting lineage, his works frame moments in the cultural and visual landscapes of California and Indonesia, reflecting on the layered histories embedded within contemporary urban life – specifically in this series, Los Angeles. In the Arroyo (2026) explores the lives of unhoused and undocumented individuals in a dry riverbed in Northeast Los Angeles, near the author's studio in Highland Park. The 110 Highway lies just behind their makeshift homes, with most drivers unaware of the reality beyond the chain link fence. De Boer created this work amid concerns about the housing crisis and the dehumanizing rhetoric surrounding homelessness and immigration. The depicted individuals seek to live with dignity like anyone else. A central figure, living in a bright yellow house, sparked online controversy after being featured in a local newspaper. Readers struggling with rent expressed envy over his perceived ease of living. The broken chain link fence in the composition acts as both a barrier and an invitation to the viewer. Its condition suggests that while the community is accessible, interpretations of the scene are contested and in flux.