Chicanos Through Chicano Eyes

A photographer, author, university lecturer, playwright and videographer, Chicano artist Harry Gamboa Jr. of Mar Vista co-founded Asco (Spanish for nausea), an East L.A. conceptual performance art movement spanning from 1972 to 1987. Working with Gronk, Willie Herron and Patsy Valdez, the avant-garde group made its mark through murals, street performances and photography, challenging Latino stereotypes. Gamboa, 49, currently has photographs displayed in the “Made in California” photo installations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and a multimedia performance piece at the Getty Center.

Reporter MARCELA ROJAS recently spoke with Gamboa.

My interest has always been in producing a greater understanding of the diversity of cultures in the world. Chicano artists have played a major role in altering the perceptions of what could possibly be construed as being Chicano. If there wasn’t art, literature and film created by Chicanos, only mass-produced media works that generate stereotypes would exist. It’s still necessary for me to refer to myself as being Chicano and to relate my work to the Chicano experience. For instance, this Getty piece that I’m working on is actually a personal interpretation of the Getty space from a Chicano perspective.

My other work, “150 Chicano Men,” portrays these subjects as individuals on the street at night and not in groups, as they are typically portrayed. If the viewer has a negative perception of a Mexican man, then they will make interpretations of his political, economic and social status. But what that really does is reflect the viewer’s personal prejudices. Upon closer inspection, the viewer will see that these men are musicians, artists, professors, authors or family men.

What I’m trying to do here is tear the linkage between an image and hatred. If you personalize the individual, then it’s difficult to make an enemy of that person.

There’s still quite a bit more work to be done because the expansion of the population is not proportionate to the awareness level. My Web site [chicanovista.com] plays a role in presenting works by Chicano artists who are not commercially oriented and thereby more in tune with free-flowing creativity. It’s a way to tell the global village that there are Chicano members in that village.