Downtown L.A., 1983, Mixed media photo collage

A central focus of my work was to document my friends and family who were absent from the mainstream images of Los Angeles. I created this piece from a series of photos taken from 1981-1983 documenting the downtown Los Angeles community I knew and participated in: working class Chicana/o Latina/o and other people of color. I also wanted to document the “underside” of downtown that is an important part of the city that is often vilified in the media.

L.A. Virgen de Guadalupe, 1996-2022, Digital print

This print is based on a painting titled Virgen de Guadalupe that I painted in response to the aftermath of the LA Uprising in 1992, which revealed the ongoing racism and police violence in Los Angeles. There is a long history of moments, such as the LA Uprising, that have revealed injustices in the city. The Virgen de Guadalupe has a long history of being a symbol of peace, healing and justice for our communities. Here I reimagined La Virgen holding Los Angeles as an act of much needed healing and protection for our city that is still relevant and needed today.