Previous Library Exhibition

Embodied Aesthetics: 30 Years of Chicana and Women of Color Printmakers at the Self Help Graphics Atelier
Curated by Cristal Gutierrez Alba
 
May 7 – June 13, 2014
In the library and vitrine
 
Opening reception: Wednesday, May 14, 12:00-2:00 p.m.
 
Mary Yanish, "Pericardium"  Self Help Graphics
Mary Yanish, Pericardium, 1998

 

Embodied Aesthetics surveys the visual imaginary created by Chicanas and women of color printmakers at Self Help Graphics from 1980-2010. Beginning in 1965, poster art became an important element of the Chicano Movement allowing for the dissemination of information as well as creating a cultural identity amongst the Chicana/o community. It wasn’t until 1983 that poster art began to enter the mainstream in the form of silkscreens and print art, becoming an accepted form of aesthetic expression. For the Chicano community, printmaking became an intersection where words and images transformed into visual iconographies that depicted social and political statements while the image conveyed experiences of desire and loss. The exhibition consists of twelve prints curated from the Self Help Graphics Atelier Print Collection at the CSRC.

About the curator:
Cristal Gutierrez Alba is a fourth-year Chicana and Chicano studies major at UCLA with an interest in Chicana visual creations. Her honors thesis, "Exploration of a Gender Galaxy Through Body Space in the Work of Diane Gamboa," is being written under the guidance of Alicia Gaspar de Alba, chair of the LGBT studies program and professor of Chicana/o studies, English, and gender studies. Upon graduating this spring, Alba will move to Mexico City to attend art school at la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.