Two years ago, I interviewed LA-based photographer Thalia Gochez, whose Mexican-Salvadorian heritage is central to her work and POV. Now, one of her gorgeous, deeply human and celebratory photos graces the cover of a new book from the University of Washington Press, Chicano Camera Culture: A Photographic History, 1966 to 2026. The book is an offshoot of an exhibition of the same name on view now at the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art
Museum. Gochez is one of nearly 50 U.S. Chicana/o/x artists featured in the show, which encompasses 150 works. The exhibition represents an intergenerational perspective, including early activist photographers alongside contemporary artists whose work builds upon their legacy.
Miguel A. Gandert, Madre de Mariachi, Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California, 2011, archival inkjet print , 24 x 36 in.
Curated by Elizabeth Ferrer, author of Latinx Photography in the United States: A Visual History (also from the University of Washington Press), the show runs through September 6, bolstering RAM’s commitment to uplifting diverse artistic and cultural voices and strengthening local community ties. The show is the first major survey to explore the evolution of Chicana/o/x lens-based practices across six decades, organized into eight thematic categories: “Protests & Affirmations,” “Picturing Self and Others,” “Domesticana,” “Claiming Space,” “Border Stories,” “History, Remixed,” “Other Selves, Other Realities,” and “The Archive.”
Spanning these themes is a range of both traditional and experimental photographic techniques, tools, and treatments. In doing so, the camera’s enduring role in shaping self-representation, cultural identity, and political expression is writ large.
Laura Aguilar, Plush Pony #2, 1992, from the Plush Pony series, silver gelatin print , 10 1/8 x 13 3/4 in., © Laura Aguilar Trust of 2016
Thalia Gochez, Yo Soy Latina, 2024, lightjet luster, 36 x 29 in., ed. 1/10, 120mm film photography
“Chicano Camera Culture” underscore the lineage and legacy of Chicano/a/x culture with a range of cross-generational voices. Trailblazers such as Louis Carlos Bernal, Luis C. Garza, George Rodriguez, and María Varela are intermixed with innovators from the 1980s and 1990s—including Kathy Vargas, Ricardo Valverde, Christina Fernandez, and Ken Gonzales-Day—alongside contemporary visionaries Star Montana, Arlene Mejorado, Thalía Gochez, and Eduardo L Rivera. The exhibit’s accompanying catalog features essays by Ferrer and scholars Charlene Villaseñor Black, Jennifer A. González, Deanna Ledezma, Nicole F. Scalissi, and Mary Thomas.
Following its Riverside debut, “Chicano Camera Culture” will embark on a national tour with support from the Henry Luce Foundation.
Ada Trillo, Crossing the Suchiate River, 2020, from the series La Caravana del Diablo, Guatemala/Mexico border, archival pigment print, 24 x 30 in.
Header image credits left to right:
Thalia Gochez, Jen 4rom the block, 2022, lightjet luster print, 36 x 24 in., ed. 1/10, 35mm film photography. William Camargo, We Gunna Have To Move Out Soon Fam!, from the series Origins and Displacements, archival inkjet print, 30 x 24 in.. Yulissa Mendoza, 3 Gallos por Acre 2, 2025, wood, collaged photographs, steel wire, hay, and sound.
Featured artists in “Chicano Camera Culture”:
Laura Aguilar • Max Aguilera-Hellweg • Asco • Chuy Benítez • Louis Carlos Bernal • Robert C. Buitrón • Freddy Calderon • William Camargo • Oscar R. Castillo • Camilo Cruz • Christina Fernandez • Harry Gamboa Jr. • Miguel A. Gandert • Luis C. Garza • Thalía Gochez • Ken Gonzales-Day • Fabián Guerrero • Alma Lopez • Annie Lopez • Martina Lopez • Arlene Mejorado • Jesús Manuel Mena Garza • Yulissa Mendoza • Star Montana • Delilah Montoya • Lizette Olivas • Rubén Ortiz-Torres • Chuck Ramírez • Daniel Ramos • Eduardo L Rivera • Reynaldo Rivera • George Rodriguez • Rudy Rodriguez • Guadalupe Rosales | Veteranas and Rucas • Diana Solís • Ada Trillo • John M. Valadez • Patssi Valdez • Ricardo Valverde • Maria Varela • Kathy Vargas • Yolanda Vasquez Petrocelli • Christopher A. Velasco • Amy Zapata
