Tatiana Reinoza - Böcker

The definitive history of a cherished East Los Angeles institution over five decades of art making and community building.  Self Help Graphics at Fifty celebrates the ongoing legacy of an institution that has had profound aesthetic, economic, and political impact on the formation of Chicanx and Latinx art in the United States. Officially launched in 1973 during the Chicano Movement, Self Help Graphics & Art continues to serve on the cultural front. The institution’s commitment to art, dignity for all, and empowerment of Chicanx and Latinx artists appears in every aspect of programming, including the Día de los Muertos festival; the Barrio Mobile Art Studio, which brings art education to underserved schools; and the printmaking program, which offers an accessible medium infused with activist aims. Looking at the multiple genealogies of art that intersect in East Los Angeles, Self Help Graphics at Fifty bears witness to the organization’s influential role in US and global art histories.

The definitive history of a cherished East Los Angeles institution over five decades of art making and community building.  Self Help Graphics at Fifty celebrates the ongoing legacy of an institution that has had profound aesthetic, economic, and political impact on the formation of Chicanx and Latinx art in the United States. Officially launched in 1973 during the Chicano Movement, Self Help Graphics & Art continues to serve on the cultural front. The institution’s commitment to art, dignity for all, and empowerment of Chicanx and Latinx artists appears in every aspect of programming, including the Día de los Muertos festival; the Barrio Mobile Art Studio, which brings art education to underserved schools; and the printmaking program, which offers an accessible medium infused with activist aims. Looking at the multiple genealogies of art that intersect in East Los Angeles, Self Help Graphics at Fifty bears witness to the organization’s influential role in US and global art histories.

A groundbreaking look at how Chicano graphic artists and their collaborators have used their work to imagine and sustain identities and political viewpoints during the past half centuryThe 1960s witnessed the rise of the Chicano civil rights movement, or El Movimiento, and marked a new way of being a person of Mexican descent in the United States. To call oneself Chicano—a formerly derogatory term—became a political and cultural statement, and Chicano graphic artists asserted this identity through their printmaking and activism. ¡Printing the Revolution! explores the remarkable legacy of Chicano graphic arts relative to major social movements, the way these artists and their cross-cultural collaborators advanced printmaking methods, and the medium’s unique role in shaping critical debates about U.S. identity and history.From satire and portraiture to politicized pop, this volume examines how artists created visually captivating graphics that catalyzed audiences. Posters and prints announced labor strikes and cultural events, highlighted the plight of political prisoners, schooled viewers in Third World liberation movements, and, most significantly, challenged the invisibility of Mexican Americans in U.S. society. While screen printing was the dominant mode of printmaking during the civil rights era, this book considers how artists have embraced a wide range of techniques and strategies, from installation art to shareable digital graphics. This book shows how artists have used and continue to use graphic arts as a means to engage the public, address social justice concerns, and wrestle with shifting notions of the term Chicano.Lavishly illustrated and featuring three double gatefolds, ¡Printing the Revolution! presents a vibrant look at the past, present, and future of an essential aspect of Chicano art.Exhibition ScheduleSmithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DCMay 14–August 8, 2021Published in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC