Exhibition

Cuban-born Campos-Pons creates vivid photographs, watercolors, installations, and performances that explore the cultural and personal impacts of migration and memory. Her work reflects the histories of labor affecting her family, emphasizing resilience and honoring her Nigerian and Chinese ancestors. This 35-year survey highlights the interconnectedness between people and their environments, offering a rich, sensory experience.

Join Mayor Karen Bass; Dr. Lura Daniels-Ball, President, Our Authors Study Club, Inc.; Los Angeles City Council President, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Councilmember, Eighth District; Councilmember Traci Park, Eleventh District; Bob Blumenfield, Councilmember, Third District; Curren D. Price, Jr., Councilmember, Ninth District; Heather Hutt, Councilmember, Tenth District; the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA); Yvonne Wheeler, Our Authors Study Club 2025 African American Heritage Month General Chair, President Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; and, the Our Authors Study Club 2025 African American Heritage Month Committee for the annual oratorical contest finals*.

Using the annual Black History theme, high school students write and orate an original essay. The students are encouraged to think deeply and broadly about the subject, focusing on the impact of the theme on past, present, and future Black society. The young people are offered coaching and support over the weeks leading up to the competition. This year’s Association for the Study of African American Life and History national theme is African Americans and Labor.

At this event, finalist presents their orations in six minutes to a panel of judges. They are scored on content, presentation, and persuasion. Students receive cash and other prizes.

* Read the full executive summary on the 2024 theme, African Americans and Labor, online at asalh.org.

Justice in our Barrios, Paz al Mundo: A Moratorium on War and Carrying the Legacy Forward, the inaugural exhibition of the Lincoln Heights Youth Arts Center (LHYAC). The exhibition features the personal archive of Rosalio Muñoz, peace activist, social justice organizer, youth mentor with roots in Lincoln Heights and Highland Park, and a Co-Founder of the Chicano Moratorium. Muñoz life’s work underscores the importance of asking ourselves how we can continue building people power and agency and that, together, we can bring about the changes needed in our world today. The exhibition is the culmination of a nine-week summer youth internship that the Center recognized as the Summer 2024 Youth Leaders.

The opening reception of Justice in our Barrios, Paz al Mundo: A Moratorium on War and Carrying the Legacy Forward takes place on Saturday, September 21, 2024, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. The event will be held at El Pueblo de Lincoln Heights Art Gallery at Lincoln Heights Youth Arts Center, located at 2911 Altura Street, Los Angeles, CA 90031. The opening reception and gallery are free and open for all to attend.

Rosalio Muñoz’s knowledge, lived experience, and personal archive ephemera including photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, campaign materials, artworks, and government documents provide the cornerstone from which this exhibition chronicles the historiography of the growing presence and empowerment of Mexican American people starting in the 1920s. Justice in our Barrios emphasizes the Chicano Moratorium’s multigenerational, intercultural, and national grassroots mobilization efforts whose anti-war 2 mission played a critical role in bringing an end to the Vietnam War. Further, it highlights the Chicano Movement’s priorities and accomplishments that took shape and continued after the post-war era towards creating an improved quality of life for all people, particularly the poor and undocumented in Los Angeles.

In addition to the historical timeline, the exhibition showcases contemporary works of art including painting, drawing, photography, and mixed media, that embody peace, justice, and solidarity. The contemporary collection is of emerging and established artists, from LHYAC visual art students to renowned artivists, exemplifying the vibrant spirit and rich history of Los Angeles’s Chicanx resilience and resistance, and reflect the Chicano Movement’s legacy and relevance to the global conflicts of today. Artworks were selected from an Open Call for Art and carefully chosen by the Youth Leaders themselves.

Featured artists include Rafael Cardenas, Colorsoner, Dare to Struggle, Hailey Deniz, Emma Deniz, Jennaya Dunlap, Paz Fernandez, Mina Ho Ferrante, Yulu Fuentes, Bobby Gordon, Kalli Arte Collective, Lilia “Liliflor” Ramirez, Pola Lopez, Tatiana Luboviski-Acosta commissioned by Coyotl + Macehualli, Arturo Meza II, Andrea “Mextica” Ramirez, Josiah O’ Balles, Dara Oum, Sol Itzel Ramirez, Melanny Rivera & Brenda Ceja, Re:sister, Joanna S., and Miki Yokoyama.

The contemporary artworks will be on display until December 14, 2024, and the historical collection will continue through February 2025. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Information on public programming is forthcoming.

Port Traits pays tribute to the work of late AGCC Studio Artists Scott Brown and Slobodan Dimitrov. The exhibition features a selection of paintings by Brown and his alias, Butcher John Henry (a collaboration with artist Logan Fox), in addition to black and white film photographs by Dimitrov. With over 25 years of history at the Center, Scott Brown and Slobodan Dimitrov will be remembered for their impact on the San Pedro community.

Scott Brown was a painter, photographer, and storyteller who grew up in Southern California. Scott was an active member of the South Bay arts community, participating regularly in the First Thursday art walk in Downtown San Pedro and other events around San Pedro and Palos Verdes. Brown’s colorful and uniquely stylized paintings captured the people and places in his life around San Pedro and beyond. Paintings by Scott Brown and his collaborative alias, Butcher John Henry, will be on view in Port Traits.

Slobodan Dimitrov was the unofficial photographer of the labor movement in the LA area for the past thirty years, a crucial period in its history. He was born in former Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia) and spent several years in France as a child before emigrating to Los Angeles. He became an AGCC Studio Artist in 1984, and he has spent much of his career documenting the labor movement in addition to San Pedro’s history and local artists. Port Traits will feature several bodies work by Dimitrov from his black and white film photography practice.

Port Traits will be on view in the AGCC galleries March 9th – April 6th, 2024, with open gallery hours Thursdays – Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. The exhibition will open with a free public reception on Saturday, March 9th from 3-5pm.

Support for the AGCC exhibitions program is provided by City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, The Ahmanson Foundation, Norris Foundation, the Perenchio Foundation, and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.

About Angels Gate Cultural Center

Angels Gate Cultural Center (AGCC) emerged from a group of San Pedro artists in the 1970s that created art studios and exhibition space within the WWII era army barracks of Angels Gate Park near the Port of Los Angeles. Today, AGCC hosts over 50 artist studios in addition to a variety of programs to engage the diverse communities of the Los Angeles Harbor region, including arts education in local schools, community classes, cultural events, and exhibitions of contemporary art. More information about AGCC is available at angelsgateart.org

The Intra-American Slave Trade Database is a resource for the study of the African diaspora in the Americas. Launched online in 2018, it documents more than 27,000 voyages that trafficked enslaved Africans and African-descended people from one part of the Americas to another from 1550 to 1860. This database strengthens research throughout the University of California system on the history and impact of the slave trade and slavery in the Americas by connecting scholarship on the Atlantic and Pacific Worlds.

The Crenshaw Eat and See Tour explores South LA’s cultural and culinary highlights. Begin with a scenic drive through historic neighborhoods, including Crenshaw, Leimert Park, Hyde Park, and View Park-Windsor Hills. Enjoy brunch at Dulan’s, shop at Leimert Park Village and Afrocity Marketplace, indulge in a wine experience at Adams Wine Shop, and conclude with a visit to the Reparations Book Club.