TUCSON, AZ.- The Center for Creative Photography (CCP) at the University of Arizona presents Chicana Photographers LA!, an exhibition running from September 28, 2024, to February 15, 2025 in the Alice Chaiten Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery.
Chicana Photographers LA! features five Chicana artists from Los Angeles whose work focuses on themes such as families, neighborhoods, sacred spaces, and body and identity politics. Featuring more than 40 photographs created between the early 1980s and 2024, the exhibition explores domestic and environmental changes in the artists' communities, including cultural, demographic, and diasporic shifts, as well as the impact of gentrification on Chicanx neighborhoods.
"Chicana Photographers LA! brings to the Tucson community a slice of life from Los Angeles via the work of five renowned Chicana photographers," said Sybil Venegas, Curator. "From immigration, to gentrification to fine art explorations into diverse cultural and gender identities, the exhibit offers something for everyone. Welcome to Los Angeles!"
The exhibition includes nine prints from Christina Fernandez’s Suburban Nightscapes, Sandra de la Loza’s depictions of neighborhood archaeological ruins, and biographical and autobiographical portraits by Laura Aguilar (1959–2018), Amina Cruz, and Star Montana. These works collectively portray the cultural landscape of Southern California, enriched with family stories, memory, and a sense of belonging.
Curated by Sybil Venegas, an independent curator and art historian, Chicana Photographers LA! revisits an earlier exhibition of the same name held at Occidental College’s Weingart Gallery in 2017. This updated presentation at CCP, presented concurrently with Louis Carlos Bernal: Retrospectiva (on view September 14, 2024–March 15, 2025) in the Center Galleries.
“We’re thrilled curator Sybil Venegas accepted our invitation to spotlight Chicanx photography this fall at the Center for Creative Photography,” said Todd J. Tubutis, Director. Chicana Photographers LA! not only underscores the historical importance of women photographers from Los Angeles' Eastside communities, it also honors the legacy of Louis Carlos Bernal, a key figure in Chicanx photography.”
"Chicana Photographers LA! also features renowned queer Chicanx poet Raquel Gutierrez with a floor-to-ceiling poetry installation inspired by the photographers," said Denisse Brito, Learning and Engagement Manager at the Center for Creative Photography. "Additionally, Sandra de la Loza will present two 'walking letter' video works, in which she responds to a friend in Buenos Aires about what makes Los Angeles unique, along with examples of mail art she created in the form of postcards. We hope this will spark conversations among viewers about the possibilities of visual art and how one describes a sense of place through different media."
