Hope and Dignity: The Farmworker Movement
August 15, 2024–February 2, 2025
The photo exhibition attempts to capture the duality of the struggle faced by farmworkers—hope for a better economic future for themselves and their families by creating a strong union, and dignity in their quest for being recognized as human beings and citizens. A union and a civil rights struggle. The diversity of the coalition that formed the Farmworker Movement is captured in the photographs taken by photographers John Kouns (1929-2019) and Emmon Clarke (1933-2022). Kouns documented the Civil Rights struggle in the South and the Farmworker Movement. Emmon Clarke served seven months as a photographer for the union newspaper, El Malcriado.
“Comfort Women” Then and Now: Who They Were and Why We Should Remember Them
March 2–August 4, 2024
Tens of thousands of women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by the imperial Japanese army between 1932 and 1945. Forced to work in "comfort stations" for twelve hours a day, the women lived under deplorable conditions, moving about as they followed the army, then abandoned when the war ended. CARE (Comfort Women Action for Redress & Education) continues to tell the story of these women, pushing for acknowledgment of these human rights abuses from the Japanese government.
Finding Sequins in the Rubble: Archives of Jotería Memories in Los Angeles
August 24, 2023–February 18, 2024
Jotería, or queer and trans Chicanx and Latinx identity, in Los Angeles is vital to the fabric of the city, yet this community’s stories of activism, migration, labor, family, leisure, loss, desire, and love have often been erased, ignored, or minimized. Despite homophobia, transphobia, racism, pandemics, and many other forms of injustice and violence, jotería shapes the city daily, building community and unearthing love and joy, sometimes in the most unexpected of places. The archives of jotería are woven into the history of Los Angeles, found within the built environment, in fleeting moments, and in maps of memories. Documenting the past, present, and future of jotería in Los Angeles is a way of finding sequins in the rubble, of celebrating this community’s existence and sacred fabulousness.
La Plaza: A Center of Injustice and Transformation in Los Angeles
March 3–August 6, 2023
As the birthplace of Los Angeles, La Plaza has been the center of diversity, social change, and strife—a place where Native Americans; settlers of African, Mexican, and Spanish descent; immigrants from China and Italy; and Anglo-Americans lived and worked together. The diversity of the plaza led to transformation—a free speech area, a non-segregated drinking fountain, the forming of workers’ associations, and a home for exiled revolutionaries who called
for social and political change through their art. Simultaneously, the plaza was a place of injustices where racism led to deportation, massacre, slave auctions, and police surveillance. Throughout its history, La Plaza has been a place of protest, a place to fight against the city’s inequalities and seek justice for all its residents.
for social and political change through their art. Simultaneously, the plaza was a place of injustices where racism led to deportation, massacre, slave auctions, and police surveillance. Throughout its history, La Plaza has been a place of protest, a place to fight against the city’s inequalities and seek justice for all its residents.
Marlon West Ink Tributes
August 13, 2022–February 12, 2023
Marlon West of Disney Animation was content to make photo tableaus of action figures as a silly creative outlet between Zoom meetings and housework during Covid lockdown. That came to a crashing halt with the murder of George Floyd, when he started these comic-book-style tributes. He says, “For many of us Black nerds, Marvel’s characters are particularly relatable. They are often hated and hunted by the powers that be. They are aliens, or born different, or having to deal with harsh cards dealt to them. They are feared, despised, shunned, and misunderstood. There isn't a more American form of portraiture than black ‘inks’ over white, to honor those that faced this nation's fear and loathing of the Black body.”
Deported Veterans: Photographs by Joseph Silva
February 24–July 31, 2022
This exhibition seeks to create a visual space in which some of these deported veterans not only recover their denied citizenship but also expose the damage inflicted on them by unjust government policies. From Mexico to the Dominican Republic to England to Costa Rica, veterans proudly display the objects that confirm their American citizenship. They want to remind us that their struggle to gain citizen status is a struggle for social justice.
Caravanas del Diablo: Photographs by Ada Trillo
September 16, 2021–February 13, 2022
In January 2020, fleeing violence and poor economic conditions, Hondurans organized a massive migrant caravan that traveled through Guatemala toward Mexico. Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has historically called for safe passage for migrants, but when US president Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs, Mexico reversed its policy and deployed soldiers to keep Central American migrants from entering Mexico. In this exhibition, documentary photographer Ada Trillo documents the experience of these migrants.
Thai El Monte Garment Workers: The Return of Slavery in the Modern Era
June 10–September 5, 2021
On August 2, 1995, the raid of a garment factory housed within a residential complex in El Monte revealed that 72 Thai nationals had been held for up to seven years as indentured workers by a family-owned firm that required them to work over 18 hours a day, seven days per week under the threat of violence and retaliation. This became the first recognized case of modern-day slavery in the United States and led to the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in the year 2000.
New Black City: A World without Police
May 13–June 6, 2021
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and the Museum of Social Justice partnered to curate an outdoor art exhibition. Black artists were invited to imagine a world without police. The exhibition documented the Black Lives Matter movement and illustrated what Los Angeles could be without policing and other carceral systems. The exhibition sought to amplify the movement’s policy demand: to reclaim the billions of dollars that systems of law enforcement drain from Black communities and invest those resources in community-driven, life-affirming systems of care and services that truly keep us safe.
Impact on Innocence: Mass Incarceration
February 6–July 16, 2020
Over 240,000 people are currently behind bars in California. Impact on Innocence sheds light on the plight of children and families whose loved ones are incarcerated. Artist Deborah McDuff spotlights these stories through larger-than-life, emotionally affecting portraits rendered in charcoal on canvas.
What happens to a mother who suddenly has to find child care with limited funds or assistance? What happens to a grandmother who has to raise another generation of children because her child is behind bars and can’t care for his own children? What happens to an immigrant who, after being imprisoned, is deported and forced to leave her children behind in foster care? What happens to a child who tries to reconnect with her mother re-entering the outside world after being incarcerated?
McDuff’s identity and creativity are a direct reflection of her heritage. She was raised in a community faced with difficult social-justice issues. She strives to communicate a variety of human conditions to raise her audience’s awareness and challenge their views. Her medium, charcoal on canvas, allows her to add, reduce, and blend the emotional impact of loss, abandonment, and burdens placed on children and caretakers. The black-and-white color scheme represents the stark reality of the American atrocity of mass incarceration.
What happens to a mother who suddenly has to find child care with limited funds or assistance? What happens to a grandmother who has to raise another generation of children because her child is behind bars and can’t care for his own children? What happens to an immigrant who, after being imprisoned, is deported and forced to leave her children behind in foster care? What happens to a child who tries to reconnect with her mother re-entering the outside world after being incarcerated?
McDuff’s identity and creativity are a direct reflection of her heritage. She was raised in a community faced with difficult social-justice issues. She strives to communicate a variety of human conditions to raise her audience’s awareness and challenge their views. Her medium, charcoal on canvas, allows her to add, reduce, and blend the emotional impact of loss, abandonment, and burdens placed on children and caretakers. The black-and-white color scheme represents the stark reality of the American atrocity of mass incarceration.
One of Us: How We See It
January 16–26, 2020
CSUN students and members of the homeless community partnered in a participatory photography project at the Holy Family Service Center of the St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood. The students were paired with individuals from the community who frequent the site for a variety of services, teaching them basic photography skills with an emphasis on street photography theory and practice.
Alfredo "LIBRE" Gutiérrez, Transportapueblos: The Resilientes
November 9, 2019–January 12, 2020
In recognition of the many difficulties faced by people who journey from their homes hoping to find a better life in the United States, Mexican artist Alfredo “Libre” Gutierrez has created Transportapueblos, Companion of Migrants, a series of coyote sculptures positioned along the train route through Mexico from its southern to its northern border. Libre’s sculptures display vital information such as maps, messages from migrants to family members, and telephone numbers of legal organizations and services.
Having crossed the border, migrants still need support, so Libre created The Resiliente, his first coyote sculpture in Los Angeles at El Pueblo. That sculpture is now on view outdoors at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes at 501 N. Main Street. This Los Angeles coyote rises out of the earth as a powerful reminder that some among us have made a brutal journey from intolerable circumstances to seek a better life for themselves and their families.
Having crossed the border, migrants still need support, so Libre created The Resiliente, his first coyote sculpture in Los Angeles at El Pueblo. That sculpture is now on view outdoors at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes at 501 N. Main Street. This Los Angeles coyote rises out of the earth as a powerful reminder that some among us have made a brutal journey from intolerable circumstances to seek a better life for themselves and their families.
Visualizing the People’s History: Richard Cross’s Images of the Central American Liberation Wars
August 15, 2019–January 12, 2020
American photojournalist Richard Cross documented the turbulent period of liberation wars in Central America from 1979 to 1983, until he was killed while on assignment in Honduras. The photographs depict communities and landscapes enduring war and genocide. Cross’s work illuminates the legacies of these wars, which propelled the largest contemporary migration of people from Central America to the United States, and which continue to shape their American experience.
Greyhound Diaries: Songs, Stories, and Images over 120,000 Bus Miles
February 7–May 26, 2019
Over 12 years and 120,000 Greyhound miles, Doug Levitt has written songs and stories, and has created photographic images of fellow bus riders. Inspired by Depression-era projects, he has performed at a range of places from VAs, shelters, and prisons to the Kennedy Center, Woody Guthrie Center, and Southern Poverty Law Center.
One of Us: Portraits and Personal Stories
May 24, 2018–January 27, 2019
One of Us recognizes the dignity and individuality of people who are economically, socially, and psychologically disenfranchised. The exhibition presents portraits and personal stories of people who wished their faces to be seen and their voices to be heard. The images and stories, created collaboratively with their subjects, challenge us to recognize them as more than a faceless societal burden known as the homeless. One of Us desires to change the conversation surrounding homelessness.
California Response: A Community Response featuring Hugo Crosthwaite
March 15–May 13, 2018
The Museum of Social Justice invited local artists from a variety of backgrounds to respond to the theme California Dream. After Hugo Crosthwaite finished whitewashing In Memoriam: Los Angeles, he began painting a new mural at the museum. But Hugo only began the mural. Local artists, from the streets of Los Angeles, from our prisons, from student groups, and others representing a broad cross-section of California dreamers, contributed their original pieces. These submissions were placed together on the walls of the museum to form a collage reflecting the community’s response. What is your California Dream? Visitors were invited to participate, as well, by drawing their dream on the wall in chalk.
Hugo Crosthwaite, In Memoriam: Los Angeles
September 6, 2017–March 10, 2018
Artist Hugo Crosthwaite came to the Museum of Social Justice and painted a new mural in front of visitors. The mural wrapped the gallery walls and was completed in a matter of weeks. He returned in the end of February 2018 to slowly paint the mural out, bit by bit, during museum hours. This mural as performance is part of a series of murals he calls In Memorium, which the artist has been painting across the US and abroad. Visitors were invited to speak with him, ask questions, or just watch while he worked.
Hugo Crosthwaite, Shattered Mural
September 6, 2017–March 10, 2018
Shattered Mural was a floor installation of forty-three sculptural fragments that referenced the abduction and murder of the 43 college students in 2014 in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. This tragic event became an international symbol for victims of institutional corruption and repressive regimes around the world. The individual fragments of Shattered Mural were created by deconstructing a mural (painted with acrylic paint on wood) into forty-three shards that when put back together would contribute to the whole.
Con Safos: Reflections of Life in the Barrio
February 6, 2017–August 27, 2017
Con Safos Magazine was a leading Chicano literary journal that emerged in the late 1960’s to the 1970’s in the East Los Angeles Barrio. Con Safos Magazine offered a Chicano first voice to address and document “El Movimiento.”
Goodwill: Its Founding and History in Southern California
August 4, 2016–January 14, 2017
The Goodwill exhibit presented the inception of Goodwill industries in 1918 and how it has contributed social services to the community of Los Angeles.
African-American Civil Rights Movement in Los Angeles
October 17, 2015–July 23, 2016
The community of Los Angeles became involved with the Civil Rights Movement in 1956 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy traveled to L.A. during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Civil Rights Exhibition at the Museum of Social Justice has introduced many of the dedicated artists, women and men who fought for Freedom, Justice and Equality in America.
Exodus
September 2014–September 25, 2015
Exodus was a photographic exhibition featuring the work of Julian Cardona, which documented the forced modern-day exodus of people from Mexico to the United States. The exhibit covered Cardona’s work between 1997-2008.