Photo credit: Connexxions: An International Women's Quarterly, no. 29, 1989. From the Yolanda Retter Papers. Courtesy of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.
June 21 – August 30, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 21, 2024, 4:00 – 6:00 PM
Please note: The museum will be closed during regular operating hours on Saturday, June 21 in preparation for the exhibition’s opening reception.
The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) in collaboration with Vincent Price Art Museum (VPAM) at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) proudly presents On the Side of Angels: Latina Lesbian Activism.
This exhibition presents selections from the archival collections of prominent Latina lesbians, narrating their involvement in LGBTQ+, immigrant, labor, and housing justice movements from the 1980s through the late 2000s.
Featuring materials from the CSRC, the exhibition includes photography, posters, magazines, and video footage from the collections of policy and civil rights advocate Laura Esquivel, tenant rights attorney Elena Popp, and archivist, herstorian, and former CSRC librarian Yolanda Retter Vargas. While the materials on view primarily reflect Los Angeles-based activism, they also reveal how local organizing was often in active dialogue with broader national and transnational movements.
The exhibition's title pays homage to Retter Vargas’s dissertation, On the Side of Angels: Lesbian Activism in Los Angeles, 1970-1990, completed at the University of New Mexico in 1999. Retter Vargas was an instrumental figure in diversifying archival collections across Los Angeles. During her tenure at the CSRC, she notably expanded the archives to include the papers of Esquivel and Popp, who were associated with key organizations such as Connexxus/Centro de Mujeres and Lesbianas Unidas (LU), an organization that emerged from Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU).
Collectively, this exhibition showcases the complexity of Latina lesbian activism and highlights the critical role of women in advocating for social justice and the broader acceptance of LGBTQ+ communities.
On the Side of Angels: Latina Lesbian Activism is presented in partnership with the Latina Futures 2050 Lab, a research initiative led by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. The exhibition is curated by Vanessa Esperanza Quintero and Jocelyne Sanchez.
All exhibitions and programs at the Vincent Price Art Museum are underwritten by the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation and East Los Angeles College.