Skip to main content
Back to Show
Artbound

Harry Gamboa Jr.'s Photographic Excavation of Chicano Identity

When photographer Harry Gamboa Jr. began his portrait series, “Chicano Male Unbonded” in 1991, the word “Chicano” implied guns, drugs and all manner of dangerous things. “I started the car, turned on the radio and the first thing that went on was an announcement from the news that says to be on the lookout for a Chicano male; he’s dangerous,” recalls Gamboa Jr. in a video with KCET, which was also on view at the Autry Museum of the American West through August 2018, alongside an exhibition of his long-running project.

That initial statement inspired Gamboa Jr. to seek out Chicano males that went against this prevailing stereotype, men that were lauded in their fields. “What the series achieves is not to give you the correct definition of Chicano male, but to give you nearly one hundred answers to that,” says UCLA professor and curator Chon A. Noriega in the same short film.

Support Provided By
Season
Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement
Unlock with PBS Passport
57:03
The life of the visionary musician, dancer and activist Nobuko Miyamoto.
Black Art: A Brockman Gallery Legacy
56:38
Brockman Gallery was the center of a community of Black artists in L.A. from 1967-1990.
Arts & Architecture: The Case Study House Program
56:33
West Coast Modernism took hold in post-WWII with the “Case Study Houses” program.
Blended Worlds: The Fusion of Art & Science at JPL
56:59
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory transforms science into awe-inspiring creative projects.
The Cheech
57:08
Follow Cheech Marin's journey from comedy icon to Chicano art advocate.
East West Players: A Home on Stage
56:43
Chronicling the 58-year history of the longest running theatre of color in the U.S.
Angel City Press: L.A. through the Pages
55:51
Angel City Press has been shaping and influencing public understanding of LA for decades.
Artists-In-Residence
56:39
Artists-In-Residence programs provide artists opportunities to create uninterrupted work.
L.A. Rebellion: A Cinematic Movement
56:40
Following the Watts Uprising, UCLA increased film program enrollment of students of color.
América Tropical: The Martyr Mural of Siqueiros
56:43
David Alfaro Siqueiros created Olvera Street’s popular mural with an innovative technique.
Chinatown Punk Wars
56:43
Two Chinese restaurants became the unlikely epicenter of L.A.’s burgeoning punk scene.
A Rubén Ortiz-Torres Story
56:17
Rubén Ortiz-Torres explores his past and present in an uncertain socio-economic future.
Active loading indicator