Assignment 5: Exhibition Review
I went to see Guadalupe Rosales: Legends Never Die, A Collective Memory at the Aperture gallery for my exhibition review. This exhibition included photos of deceased chicano men and women in LA, California during primarily the 1990's. Rosales is both a photographer and an archivist, so this exhibition focused more on her archive of photos. Her goal was to accurately represent the "history of brown youth" in Los Angeles during this time. The photo's were not taken by her, but rather chosen by her because she felt they had an untold story waiting to be heard.
The exhibit was very different from other photo exhibitions I've experienced before. While most of the time photo exhibits are simply framed photos on a white wall with a plaque underneath telling you the title and photographer, this exhibition was a bit more interactive and fluid. Rosales did a great job of blending a typically printed media with digital/social media. When you entered the gallery you saw a few of the photos had been blown up to cover the entire wall almost in the style of collage or how the photos would look laying on a table. The images overlapped and encompassed the entire space. In the center of one of the walls was a photo of a couple with what appeared to be a shrine under them. There were rosary beads, candles, and flowers under the photo. This created a very intimate setting to observe these photos in because you felt the need to pay these people some respect and acknowledgment. Next to this shrine was a large touch screen that displayed the instagram page @veteranas_and_rucas where you could scroll through lots and lots of the photographs Rosales has been collecting. This was a really interesting way to go about presenting this archive because it is accessible to everyone and anyone with access to instagram. I think this choice was really affective in terms of spreading the message about the culture of these people, but my inability to really see these photos disconnected me from the subjects, the people in the photos. the press release states that Rosales was not only drawn to the photos themselves, but the the notes written on the back of the photos because it connected her with those people. I would have liked to see that more incorporated into the display because I wanted to feel more attached to the people in the photos and understand them further. All of the photos in the archive have a similar look of portrait/ staged group photo. These photos are not a representation of natural life, but rather a fixed, planned, and posed moment. There is something really appealing about these photos because of their lack of creative quality and the enfaces on the people in the photos.
These photos made me feel very nostalgic although I didn't experience anything thats going on in these photos. I'm not Mexican American, nor have I ever even been to Los Angeles, but these photos were so true to real life. Some of them looked like picture day photos from high school and other group pictures of kids just hanging out, and there is something really relatable about that. We all have photos that look like the ones in this exhibit, but the people in these photos are no longer here. Rosales also says that she views this work as an attempt to decriminalize and restructure the history of this culture and these people. Rosales reminds us with this work that not all Mexican Americans of this time were bad people. Crime is relevant everywhere and can not be blamed on one group of people, so the image of chicano's in California needed to be challenged. While many other photographers want to construct a photo and create an underlying meaning, these photos can only show one thing and that is the people in them. The moment the photo was taken and what is shown is no where near as important as why were are looking at these photos. This exhibition was more about the message than the photos themselves, but this message could not be relayed without the images.
Rosales posted this photo to her instagram on October 1st. This photo was taken from Matt Sweeney's archives and was shot on Kodachrome64 film around 1979/1980. I was first drawn to this photo because of the gorgeous effect of the back lighting. It's created this glow around these women, which I found to be really effective for the project of bring justice to these people. I also really appreciated the lower angle that created this powerful, almost religious even, female presence in the photo. I also noticed the complimenting colors of the red/orange tones from the sun and the greener tones in the background coming from the tree and the building. I thought this accurately grasped the culture of these women as well. Rosales says in the caption of this photo that the customized iron on lettered shirts are a huge part of chicano culture and fashion. They sometimes represented a neighborhood or crew, or displayed a nickname. These are the real women of Hollywood Blvd in their natural habitat.
This photo was posted to Rosales's instagram on August 23rd. The photo is of a group of girls (txflats hxa) outside of Stephan M White Middle School in Carson in 1988. The photo was captioned with "TXFLATS HXA GIRLS", so I looked up txflats hxa and discovered that it was a "hispanic gang"in California. This photo didn't strike me as being well constructed. It is bright and a tad blurry, but again comes the nostalgia. There is something so universal about these photos that makes you feel like you've seen it before or you've been in a picture like this before. This looks to me like they are doing some sort of gang symbol which would usually be perceived as scary or threatening, but these are young girls. They seem proud of their group and comfortable in their setting. This photo embodies "togetherness" for me. There is a strong sense of unity and almost family with these girls. I also thought that the light that washes over the entire photo, although probably not intended by the photographer, brings a feeling of the past for me. These photos are meant to remember these people how they truly were. I also thought it was interesting that the only thing that seems to be in focus is the two hands grasping each other in the center of the photo. There was strength in these groups and was an important part of the culture of these people. Although these gangs were looked at as criminals and trouble, they also brought community and strength to these people.
I think the artist was incredibly successful in their attempt to humanize this group of people that is typically criminalized. I look at these photos and see community, love, family, and support from within the culture, although that was not how they were perceived by outsiders during that time. I could tell that there was a personal need to share these stories, possibly in a way to share her own story. I'm happy that this is an ongoing project that I can follow through social media, because as the artist grows so will the project.
The exhibit was very different from other photo exhibitions I've experienced before. While most of the time photo exhibits are simply framed photos on a white wall with a plaque underneath telling you the title and photographer, this exhibition was a bit more interactive and fluid. Rosales did a great job of blending a typically printed media with digital/social media. When you entered the gallery you saw a few of the photos had been blown up to cover the entire wall almost in the style of collage or how the photos would look laying on a table. The images overlapped and encompassed the entire space. In the center of one of the walls was a photo of a couple with what appeared to be a shrine under them. There were rosary beads, candles, and flowers under the photo. This created a very intimate setting to observe these photos in because you felt the need to pay these people some respect and acknowledgment. Next to this shrine was a large touch screen that displayed the instagram page @veteranas_and_rucas where you could scroll through lots and lots of the photographs Rosales has been collecting. This was a really interesting way to go about presenting this archive because it is accessible to everyone and anyone with access to instagram. I think this choice was really affective in terms of spreading the message about the culture of these people, but my inability to really see these photos disconnected me from the subjects, the people in the photos. the press release states that Rosales was not only drawn to the photos themselves, but the the notes written on the back of the photos because it connected her with those people. I would have liked to see that more incorporated into the display because I wanted to feel more attached to the people in the photos and understand them further. All of the photos in the archive have a similar look of portrait/ staged group photo. These photos are not a representation of natural life, but rather a fixed, planned, and posed moment. There is something really appealing about these photos because of their lack of creative quality and the enfaces on the people in the photos.
These photos made me feel very nostalgic although I didn't experience anything thats going on in these photos. I'm not Mexican American, nor have I ever even been to Los Angeles, but these photos were so true to real life. Some of them looked like picture day photos from high school and other group pictures of kids just hanging out, and there is something really relatable about that. We all have photos that look like the ones in this exhibit, but the people in these photos are no longer here. Rosales also says that she views this work as an attempt to decriminalize and restructure the history of this culture and these people. Rosales reminds us with this work that not all Mexican Americans of this time were bad people. Crime is relevant everywhere and can not be blamed on one group of people, so the image of chicano's in California needed to be challenged. While many other photographers want to construct a photo and create an underlying meaning, these photos can only show one thing and that is the people in them. The moment the photo was taken and what is shown is no where near as important as why were are looking at these photos. This exhibition was more about the message than the photos themselves, but this message could not be relayed without the images.
Rosales posted this photo to her instagram on October 1st. This photo was taken from Matt Sweeney's archives and was shot on Kodachrome64 film around 1979/1980. I was first drawn to this photo because of the gorgeous effect of the back lighting. It's created this glow around these women, which I found to be really effective for the project of bring justice to these people. I also really appreciated the lower angle that created this powerful, almost religious even, female presence in the photo. I also noticed the complimenting colors of the red/orange tones from the sun and the greener tones in the background coming from the tree and the building. I thought this accurately grasped the culture of these women as well. Rosales says in the caption of this photo that the customized iron on lettered shirts are a huge part of chicano culture and fashion. They sometimes represented a neighborhood or crew, or displayed a nickname. These are the real women of Hollywood Blvd in their natural habitat.
This photo was posted to Rosales's instagram on August 23rd. The photo is of a group of girls (txflats hxa) outside of Stephan M White Middle School in Carson in 1988. The photo was captioned with "TXFLATS HXA GIRLS", so I looked up txflats hxa and discovered that it was a "hispanic gang"in California. This photo didn't strike me as being well constructed. It is bright and a tad blurry, but again comes the nostalgia. There is something so universal about these photos that makes you feel like you've seen it before or you've been in a picture like this before. This looks to me like they are doing some sort of gang symbol which would usually be perceived as scary or threatening, but these are young girls. They seem proud of their group and comfortable in their setting. This photo embodies "togetherness" for me. There is a strong sense of unity and almost family with these girls. I also thought that the light that washes over the entire photo, although probably not intended by the photographer, brings a feeling of the past for me. These photos are meant to remember these people how they truly were. I also thought it was interesting that the only thing that seems to be in focus is the two hands grasping each other in the center of the photo. There was strength in these groups and was an important part of the culture of these people. Although these gangs were looked at as criminals and trouble, they also brought community and strength to these people.
I think the artist was incredibly successful in their attempt to humanize this group of people that is typically criminalized. I look at these photos and see community, love, family, and support from within the culture, although that was not how they were perceived by outsiders during that time. I could tell that there was a personal need to share these stories, possibly in a way to share her own story. I'm happy that this is an ongoing project that I can follow through social media, because as the artist grows so will the project.
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