Drawn from recent acquisitions from Laura Aguilar’s estate, “Body and Landscape” traces Aguilar’s groundbreaking use of self-portraiture within the natural environments of Southern California and the Southwest, reframing the Western landscape as a site of personal power, resilience, and reclamation.
Raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Aguilar created introspective works during the 1980s through the early 2000s. Her photographs reflect her Chicana, queer identity and the experiences of her friends in the LGBTQ and Latino communities. Through her self-portraiture, she engaged the landscape as a space for visibility and self-expression.