Carmen Lomas Garza’s tender scenes of Chicanx community, Huguette Caland’s life in lines, Indigenous artists on fire and stewardship, photography of trans mutual aid, and more.
After the lazy, hazy days of summer, fall is a time to refocus and reimagine, and that goes for the art world too. This season, exhibitions across the city delve into important but underrecognized artists and movements, challenging what we thought we knew. Monica Majoli presents a series of drawings inspired by an influential lesbian photography workshop alongside material from the erstwhile Sisterhood Bookstore. Nurtured Flames at the Armory features Indigenous artists who explore Native fire stewardship, while Flesh Witness at REDCAT reveals systems of power and militarism in the occupied regions of East Asia and the Pacific. A career retrospective of late Beirut-born artist Huguette Caland at the Hammer celebrates the work of an artist who spent much of her life in Los Angeles, and a show on Tokio Ueyama situates him within a larger cultural and political framework of his era, including his incarceration alongside thousands of other Japanese Americans during World War II. And at the Getty, an exhibition of five influential Chicanx photographers offers various views of the ever-changing metropolis of Los Angeles.
Monica Majoli: Countervision
The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives, 626 North Robertson Boulevard, West Hollywood, California
September 19–November 21
Countervision pairs new drawings by American artist Monica Majoli with material from the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives in West Hollywood. Presented by Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND), the exhibition began with Majoli’s research into the Ovulars, a series of workshops led by lesbian photographers Joan E. Biren (JEB), Tee A. Corinne, Honey Lee Cottrell, and Ruth Mountaingrove between 1979 and ’83. Majoli created drawings based on photographs taken at the Ovulars of nude women joined in creative pursuit. These are presented unframed in a custom-built display, alongside objects from the feminist hub Sisterhood Bookstore, which operated in the Westwood neighborhood from 1972 to 1999, serving as a vital resource for Majoli as a young woman growing up in LA.
Hold Each Other’s Hands: Trans Mutual Aid, 1966-1996
Oxy Arts, 4757 York Boulevard, Highland Park, Los Angeles
Through December 5
Taking its name from a phrase popularized by trans activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, Hold Each Other’s Hands delves into networks of communal care established by transgender people from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, framing them as models for the future. Featuring archival materials, contemporary art, and community programming, the exhibition sheds light on systems developed to provide solidarity, security, and basic needs such as housing and healthcare. Archival installations focused on unhoused trans youth in 1960s San Francisco and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in 1970s New York City contextualize work by six LA-based artists, setting up intergenerational conversations.
Flesh Witness
REDCAT, 631 West 2nd Street, Downtown, Los Angeles
September 12–December 13
This group show examines the impact of militarism in Asia and the Pacific region, focusing on Hawai‘i, Korea, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Samoa. Eleven artists and collectives take a critical view of how power and control are reinforced by the landscape, media, and physical structures of occupied lands. Organized by diasporic Korean arts nonprofit GYOPO and scholar Amy Kahng, Flesh Witness spans 50 years of sculpture, photography, mixed media, and installation art. Participating artists include Bernice Akamine, Mao Ishikawa, and Stephanie Syjuco.
Artifacts from an Unborn Empire
Brand Library and Art Center, 1601 West Mountain Street, Glendale, California
September 26–December 31
“History is written by the victors,” goes the old saying often misattributed to Winston Churchill, a narrow philosophy that inevitably leads to biased and sanitized narratives. Artifacts from an Unborn Empire challenges that maxim, questioning accepted chronologies and the power structures that support them. Among the 22 artists is Rubén Esparza, whose serape flag hanging from a used broom pays tribute to the unheralded labor that forms the nation’s backbone.
Facts Only
* Monica Majoli: Countervision runs September 19–November 21 at The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives in West Hollywood.
* Hold Each Other’s Hands: Trans Mutual Aid, 1966-1996 runs through December 5 at Oxy Arts in Highland Park.
* Flesh Witness runs September 12–December 13 at REDCAT in Downtown Los Angeles.
* Artifacts from an Unborn Empire runs September 26–December 31 at Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale.
* Monica Majoli's exhibition features drawings inspired by the Ovulars photography workshops (1979–1983) and materials from Sisterhood Bookstore (1972–1999).
* Hold Each Other’s Hands features archival materials and work by six Los Angeles-based artists.
* Flesh Witness features sculpture, photography, mixed media, and installation art from eleven artists and collectives.
* Artifacts from an Unborn Empire includes work by 22 artists, including Rubén Esparza.
* A career retrospective of Huguette Caland is hosted at the Hammer.
* An exhibition on Tokio Ueyama is being presented.
* An exhibition of five Chicanx photographers is hosted at the Getty.
* Nurtured Flames is hosted at the Armory.
Executive Summary
Los Angeles is hosting a diverse array of autumn art exhibitions focused on underrepresented artists and marginalized histories. Several shows emphasize archival reclamation, such as Monica Majoli's exploration of lesbian photography workshops and the "Hold Each Other’s Hands" exhibition, which examines transgender mutual aid networks from 1966 to 1996. Other installations, including "Flesh Witness" and "Artifacts from an Unborn Empire," utilize mixed media to critique militarism in Asia and the Pacific and challenge traditional historical narratives.
The season also includes significant individual retrospectives and thematic group shows. These range from the career of Beirut-born artist Huguette Caland at the Hammer to an exploration of Tokio Ueyama's life and incarceration during World War II. Additionally, the Getty and the Armory are presenting works focused on Chicanx photography and Indigenous fire stewardship, respectively. Together, these exhibitions seek to refocus the city's cultural lens on themes of community care, state power, and cultural identity.
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative presents a city-wide effort to decentralize the art canon by elevating voices from the periphery—specifically LGBTQ+, Indigenous, and diasporic communities. It frames the gallery space not just as a venue for aesthetics, but as a site for historical correction and political testimony.
The guiding paradigm is one of "counter-archiving." The assumption is that official history is a tool of the victor and that true understanding requires looking at the "unborn empire" or the "mutual aid" networks that exist outside state structures. This echoes a broader cultural shift toward intersectional curation, where the value of the art is inextricably linked to the identity and struggle of the creator.
While this approach expands visibility and restores dignity to erased figures, it risks shifting the primary metric of artistic value from the work itself to the political utility of the artist's identity. If the goal is to challenge "sanitized narratives," the second-order consequence may be the creation of a new, equally rigid orthodoxy of curated grievance.
Patterns detected: none
Bridge Questions:
1. Does the focus on the political identity of the artist enhance or distract from the formal analysis of the artwork?
2. How does the institutionalization of "counter-narratives" within major museums change the nature of the dissent being presented?
Counterstrike Scan:
A coordinated influence campaign would use this narrative to suggest that all traditional history is a lie and that only identity-based collectives can provide truth. The actual content here is a curated list of art shows and does not match that structural pattern.
Sentinel — Human
This text reads as high-quality, curated journalistic reporting, successfully linking diverse art exhibitions through thematic resonance while embedding specific factual references.