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Hidden Histories: Discovering Los Angeles' LGBTQ+ Collections Main Menu Hidden Histories: Discovering Los Angeles' LGBTQ+ Collections Welcome to Hidden Histories! Discovering Los Angeles' LGBTQ+ Collections! What is Hidden Histories? A partnership between ONE Archives at USC and L.A. as Subject, Hidden Histories' goal is to create a centralized resource of LGBTQ+ archival material for researchers and community members. Participating Institutions L.A. as Subject member institutions from across Southern California have joined with ONE and LAAS to collaborate on this project. Topical Guide Collections from participating institutions organized based on the subject or topic of the materials.

Self Help Graphics & Art

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Self Help Graphics & Art fosters the creation and advancement of new art works by Chicana/o and Latinx artists through experimental and innovative printmaking techniques and other visual art forms. They are an organization rooted in community; and since 1973, have been at the intersection of arts and social justice, providing a home that fosters the creativity and development of local artists.

LGBTQ+ topics and themes represented in the collections held by Self Help Graphics & Art include Latino/a/x LGBTQ+ people and LGBTQ+ activism.

Featured Material

At the Heart of It: LGBTQ+ Representation at Self Help Graphics, 2023-2024 (exhibit at the Advocate & Gochis Galleries; curated by Rubén Esparza)

At the Heart of It provides a window to the creative energy the LGBTQ+ community found at Self Help Graphics and how that energy transitioned in the Print Studio throughout these 50 years. Audiences will witness a selection of prints that challenge conservative cultural traditions and elevate the racial and systemic violence that continues to harm neighborhoods, memorials to victims of the AIDs pandemic, and work that celebrates identity, pride, and relationships (text from Marvella Muro).

Featured Artists: Sister Karen Boccalero, Carlos Bueno, Antonio Ibañez, Maja Milton Jurado, Laura Aguilar, Alex Alferoc, Alfredo de Batuc, Angelica Becerra, Martha Carrillo, Pamela Chavez, Alex Donis, Rubén Esparza, Gabriel Garcia Roman, Trenely “Clover” Garcia, Jef Huereque, Luciano Martinez, Rigo Maldonado, Paola Dalila Mendez, Miguel Angel Reyes, Teddy Sandoval, Hector Silva, Joey Terrill, Cynthia Velasquez

[Expecting installation images early 2024. Insert inline or carousel? Perhaps even integrate into above carousel...]

Homombre Atelier, 2007-2008*

"Homombre" is both a suite of multicolored silkscreens and an extended riff on issues that gay Latino men must face every day. Artists explore a wide range of experiences, their own, and those of others with whom they share a mutual comradeship. The technical skills that artists possess may vary, but every artist embraces a truth dear to them that informs the art they create. The 49th atelier was organized in response to California’s original refusal to honor marriage equality. Curated by Miguel Angel Reyes, this atelier brought together a group of artists whose work speaks to the vibrancy of queer Latinx Los Angeles as well as the lasting impact of the AIDS crisis.

Featured Artists: Alex Donis, Hector Silva, Jeff Huereque, Joey Terrill, Luciano Martinez, Miguel Angel Reyes, P.E. Sweeney Perez, Rigo Maldonado, Rubén Esparza

Queerida Atelier, 2017-2019*

The word "Queerida" is a playful combination of the word "Queer" and the beloved song "Querida" by the late Mexican singer-songwriter, Juan Gabriel, who coincidentally, never openly admitted his homosexuality to the public.

Queerida is a fitting title to this atelier, that brings together five queer women of color with diverse Latin American backgrounds. Through personal and shared experience, each artist created vibrant and colorful prints representing self and community empowerment, a celebration of women and the female body, and, most importantly, the liberating act of being true to who they are. Many of the works include symbols of their celestial and spiritual connections, rooted in ancestral backgrounds or the land itself. Queerida symbolizes queer love. Both to oneself and for their partner.

The production of Queerida initiated in late 2017, with three works completed in 2018, and two in 2019. The entire suite was featured for the first time during SHG’s 2020 Annual Print Fair.

Featured Artists: Angelica Becerra, Pamela Chavez, Trenely "Clover" Garcia, Dalila Paola Mendez, Cynthia Velasquez

*online materials available

Contact Self Help Graphics & Art

For more information about Self Help Graphics & Art's LGTBQ+ collections and holdings, including citation and copyright information, please contact Lulu Urdiales.

✉ Email: lulu.urdiales@selfhelpgraphics.com
☎ Call: 323-881-6444

Self Help Graphics & Art is an L.A. as Subject member. For more information about L.A. as Subject, visit their website here.