Site Scene in L.A.

Los Angeles in the 1980's and 90's was a time of multi cultural, multi district, multi sexual orientation creation and collaboration. Art, music, dance, fashion, performance art, theater, graffiti art, murals, indy filmmaking, print media all leaving their mark on the map of this vast LA-LA landscape. These were the pre FundMe days when if you had a project in mind you either applied for an arts grant, found a benefactor or you held fundraisers. A lot of time and effort was donated by artists themselves. There were plenty of arts supporters who gave their time and money as well. Why? Because local arts kept our city authentic and alive with a true sense of how our cultural and ethnic differences were alike in so many ways. That's not to say there weren't outlying areas that didn't wish to participate in the grand scheme of a melting pot theory. They were there in the comfort zones hiding behind curtains and valleys which was just fine for us without a monocultural...

In going through my files and archives I realized not many of the announcements for art exhibitions and sales I participated in over the years survived. The first group exhibition was for Dia de los Muertos at Galeria Olvera in 1990. The last was Ofrendas 2009: Calavera Fashion Show and Walking Altars at Tropico de Nopal.

I have recently revisted my poetry years archives and was amazed to find so many original fliers, programs, newspaper clippings and announcements survived. My first reading was an invitation to open for Y Que Mas at Onyx/Echo in 1994. Over the next two and a half decades I appeared at various events and venues throughout Los Angeles. The following photos are a small representation of my involvement in the Los Angeles and Chicano/a/x poetry scene. Years active: 1994 - 2015