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Guide to the Laura Aguilar Papers and Photographs,
1981-1995.
Special Collections M829
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Title: Laura Aguilar Papers and Photographs,
Date (inclusive): 1981-1995.
Collection Number: Special Collections M829
Creator:
Aguilar, Laura
Extent:
2.75 linear feet.
Contributing Institution:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Language:
English.
Acquired from Laura Aguilar, 1996.
Purchased from Laura Aguilar, 1996.
Consult Special Collections staff.
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For
permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
[Identification of item], Laura Aguilar Papers and photographs, M829, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
Patricia Mazón,
1996 April
Laura Aguilar is a photographer whose works are mostly portraits. Professor Chon Noriega of UCLA's Department of Film and
Television writes that Aguilar's work documents "social groups and identities that remain invisible in mainstream culture:
Latina lesbians, black couples, obese people, et al." She cooperates with her subjects so that "her work is not about power
differentials between photographer and subject as is often, if implicitly, the case with...the social documentary tradition."
An autobiographical element is also apparent in Aguilar's work. Art critic Diana Emery Hulick noted that "the circumstances
of [Aguilar's] life are reflected overtly in her art." Aguilar, Hulick wrote, "is large, lesbian, and Chicana, acutely aware
of her separateness, yet comfortable enough with herself to present us with a personal vision that is both intimate and authoritative."
Laura Aguilar was born in west San Gabriel Valley, California in 1959. She has studied in the East Los Angeles Community College
photography program and the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, among other programs. In 1994/95 she was the recipient of a California
Arts Council Fellowship and in 1991/92 of an Artist's Project Grant from Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). Her
work has appeared in exhibits in California, Texas, New York, and Mexico. Collections of her work can be found at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art and the Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Department in Santa Monica, California. Aguilar lives in
Rosemead, California.
Diana Emery Hulick
"Laura Aguilar,"
Latin American Art
5:3 (1993), 52-54.
The Aguilar Papers and Photographs include the personal and professional materials of Laura Aguilar and occupy 2.75 linear
feet. The collection traces through correspondence with mentors and friends both Aguilar's artistic development and her struggle
with dyslexia. Her professional achievements are detailed in the series on exhibitions and published works. The print series
includes original prints of three of Aguilar's photographic series:
Latina Lesbians,
Plush Pony, and
Clothed/Unclothed.
Arrangement
The papers total 7 boxes and are arranged in the following series:
- Correspondence
- Exhibitions and Published Works
- Prints
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Cuadros, Gilbert.
House, Suda.
Martel, Pat.
Tenneson, Joyce.
Dyslexia.
Hispanic American lesbians.
Mexican American art.
Obesity.
Photography.
Photoprints.