La Gente de Santa Monica Block Party and Banner Reveal

La Gente de Santa Monica is a celebratory art curation, block party, and banner campaign depicting historical sites and narratives created by local Santa Monica and LA County contemporary artists. Through their artwork and storytelling, these artists celebrate the achievements and contributions of Mexican, Afro-Latin, Latinx, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities from centuries past to the present within the City of Santa Monica.

In an attempt to reinvigorate the community at large with a sense of shared belonging to a rich historical culture, La Gente de Santa Monica will launch a city-wide banner exhibition beginning Friday, September 27th at the Santa Monica Conservancy’s historic Shotgun House (2520 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90405). The event will unveil a banner depicting a portion of the GREAT WALL OF LOS ANGELES mural by the legendary Chicana artist Dr. Judith “Judy” Baca. Judy Baca and the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) is continuing work on the Great Wall in Santa Monica at Bergamot Station to be completed for the Olympics in 2028.

“[T]he Great Wall is a landmark pictorial representation of the history of ethnic peoples of California from prehistoric times to the 1950’s, conceived by SPARC’S artistic director and founder Judith F. Baca. Begun in 1974 and completed over five summers, the Great Wall employed over 400 youth and their families from diverse social and economic backgrounds working with artists, oral historians, ethnologists, scholars, and hundreds of community members.” – SPARC

The opening exhibition will run from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and will feature a virtual exhibition of artists’ work, along with a video interview featuring Curator, Artist, and Activist Steve Galindo (La Gente de Santa Monica) and Cultural Affairs Administrator Allison Ostrovsky (City of Santa Monica), discussing the background of this project. The virtual exhibition will showcase visual works from La Gente de Santa Monica artists: Alex Donis, Andrea Castillo, Chris Cortez, Harley Cortez, Isaac Pelayo, Jasmine Diana, Luis Anaya, Miguel Ángel Reyes, and Vasty Ramos. Additionally, La Gente de Santa Monica hosted a juried exhibition, recognizing the visual works of Carolina Reynoso, Francisco Flamenco Hernandez, and Isabella Peririni, whose works will also be included in the event.

The banner will be up for viewing at the Shotgun House from September 27th to October 15th. Follow @smconservancy on Instagram and TikTok to see updates on banner postings at Santa Monica College and Santa Monica Roller Rinc.

Curator Steve Galindo curated the panel for this outdoor exhibition, deeply inspired by the Chicano and Latin American Art History courses they took at Santa Monica High School between 2002-2003. These courses were piloted and taught by a group of teachers at the high school and at Santa Monica College, including Gilda Cruz, Jaime Cruz, and Leslie Wells, to name a few.

Curator Steve Galindo chose this particular panel by Dr. Judy Baca for the Shotgun House because of the reverberating significance of the East LA walkout. This event empowered young Latinos to demand equal education, which led to Galindo and his peers’ education on the subject matter, serving as a lifelong empowering experience. Learn more about the East LA walkout here.