Notable Figures
This exhibit has made note of a few notable queer Latines who spearheaded significant submovements within the LGBTQIA+ community. Below are biographies of these individuals with a summary of their achievements and goals for the queer Latine community.
Alma Lopez (1966-) is a queer Chicana artist and activist born in Sinaloa, Mexico, but raised in Los Angeles. Her work explores feminism, the Chicana identity, queerness, racism, and strives to empower women like herself. She created the piece Our Lady in 2001 for the exhibit “Cyber Arte: Tradition meets Technology” at the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Our Lady is a digital collage Lopez created that featured a woman covered in roses as a depiction of la Virgin of Guadalupe. the piece was labeled “Bikini Virgin” by newspapers covering the issue. The piece sparked controversy among the Catholic churches in Santa Fe who considered it a blasphemy and an affront against the Virgin of Guadalupe. Protestors took to the streets to demand the artwork be taken down.
The controversy and resulting limelight on her work inspired Alma Lopez to collaborate with her wife and supporter, Alicia Gaspar de Alba. Together, they wrote Our Lady of Controversy: Alma Lopez’s “Irreverent Apparition”, a book that explores the controversy, queer Chicana art, rebellion, and challenges the system of church and state. More conversation about the “Our Lady” controversy can be found in Alica Gaspar de Alba’s collection at the Benson Latin American Collections. Alma Lopez remains iconic as a queer Chicana artist with the vision of uplifting women like herself through her art.
Alicia Gaspar de Alba (1958-) is a queer Latina writer, poet, advocate, and scholar. She is an El Paso native currently teaching at UCLA as part of their Chicana/o Studies, English, and Gender Studies departments. Gaspar is a founding faculty member of the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCLA. Her current research interests explore historical depictions of controversial women (such as La Malinche). She worked with her wife, Alma Lopez, to analyze the controversy of Lopez’s work Our Lady. Learn more about Gaspar de Alba’s investigative process into the “Our Lady” controversy in her papers at the Benson Latin American Collection.
Teddy Sandoval (1949-1995) was a prominent queer artist in Los Angeles. He participated in both avant-garde art efforts in the U.S. and internationally. Sandoval is best known for his whimsical pieces that explored race, gender, and sexuality - usually featuring proudly queer and mustachioed men. The mediums used to create his art spanned from printmaking, mail art, ceramics, graphite drawings, and xerography. He founded the Butch Gardens School of Art, named after a popular queer Chicanx bar in Los Angeles. Sandoval’s work, an example seen here speaks to his dedication to queer Chicanx masculinity, joy, and expression.
Gaspar de Alba, Alicia, and Alma López. Our Lady of Controversy: Alma López’s Irreverent Apparition. Austin, UNITED STATES: University of Texas Press, 2011. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/utxa/detail.action?docID=3571764.
“Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art - Exhibitions - Independent Curators International.” Accessed April 14, 2023. https://curatorsintl.org/exhibitions/22724-teddy-sandoval.
“Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art - Exhibitions - Independent Curators International.”
Segade, “A MARICON BEAUTY: Alexandra Segade on queer Chicanx zines”. Artforum International, 57(2), 55 (2018).