Learning from Laura Aguilar

Talk
A nude figure lays draped on rocks surrounding a small pool of water in a landscape with grass and trees.

Nature Self-Portrait #9 (detail), Laura Aguilar, 1996. Gelatin silver print. Getty Museum. Gift of Trish and Jan de Bont. © Laura Aguilar Trust of 2016

Sunday, Nov 8, 2026

4pm

Getty Villa & Online

Museum Lecture Hall

Free

Tickets are free, but required for event entrance. Your event ticket will also serve as your Center entrance reservation. Please note, there is a fee for parking.

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About

Photographing in Los Angeles throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Laura Aguilar documented experiences of Angelenos of color, queer communities, and disabled people, challenging stigmas and stereotypes. Featured in the exhibition Every Minute is History: Five Views of Los Angeles, Aguilar’s work continues to inspire today’s generation of scholars and artists . Join a panel of distinguished speakers for a conversation on Aguilar’s legacy, archive, and the pedagogical approaches of her work carried forward by a new generation.

This program is presented in conjunction with the Huntington's exhibition Laura Aguilar: Day of the Dead. The Huntington will present a public program Acts of Remembrance: Laura Aguilar’s Day of the Dead Photographs on Sunday, Nov. 15 from 1-4 p.m.

    Talk Getty Villa

    Speakers

    1. Andrew Campbell

      Art Historian, Critic, and Curator

      Andy Campbell is associate professor of critical studies at the USC Roski School of Art and Design. His work foregrounds LGBTQ communities and their archives as wellsprings for histories of art and design. He is the author of Bound Together: Leather, Sex, Archives, and Contemporary Art (2020) and Queer X Design: 50 Years of Signs, Symbols, Banners, Logos, and Graphic Art of LGBTQ (2019). Forthcoming projects include an academic study of the work of Beverly Buchanan, Harmony Hammond, and Laura Aguilar, focusing on the manifold ways that poverty circumscribes artistic practice in the United States.

    2. Marco Antonio Flores

      Curator and Art Historian

      Marco Antonio Flores is a curator and historian of modern and contemporary art across the Americas. He is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Art History at Stanford University, where he specializes in the photography and film of Laura Aguilar, as well as art’s connection to literature and poetry. His recent curatorial projects include Me Llaman Calle: The Monumental Art of Juana Alicia (2024) at the San Francisco Arts Commission, and LA LA LA: Photographic Experiments by Patssi Valdez Since 1970 (2026) in collaboration with the AltaMed Art Collection.

    3. Micaela J. Díaz-Sánchez

      Professor of Chicana/o Studies

      Dr. Micaela J. Díaz-Sánchez is department vice chair and associate professor of Chicana/o Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

    4. Christopher Velasco

      Artist

      Christopher Anthony Velasco is a Los Angeles-based photographer and performance artist who explores the queer brown body and blends horror with camp aesthetics. He holds an MFA from UC Santa Barbara and a BFA from CalArts. He teaches at Moorpark College, Los Angeles City College, and the California State Summer School for the Arts. His work has been exhibited at Highways Performance Space, Gallery Luisotti, the Getty Museum, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Los Angeles, and the Vincent Price Art Museum.

    5. Sybil Venegas

      Curator and Art Historian

      Sybil Venegas is an independent art historian, curator and professor emerita of Chicana/o Studies at East Los Angeles College. She is among the first art historians to historicize Chicana art and is a recognized scholar in Chicana feminist art history as well as the cultural politics of Dia de los Muertos ceremonials in Chicanx/Latinx communities. She curated the retrospective exhibition Laura Aguilar: Show and Tell, which traveled to four museums between 2017–2021.

    Know Before You Go

    Duration

    Approximately 1 hour plus time for Q&A.

    Planning your arrival

    Please bring your tickets with you and have them open on your mobile device or printed. Your event ticket is also your entry to the Getty Center and will be checked upon arrival as you go through security before taking the tram or walking up the hill.

    Your ticket will also be checked at the event entrance.

    Note that during busy times of year and weekends, we recommend planning your visit to allow for at least 30 minutes to park, go through security, and make your way up to the event.

    Event Check-In

    Check-in begins 90 minutes before program start time at the Museum Lecture Hall.

    Doors open 30 minutes before program start time.

    Seating

    Unless otherwise noted, all seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. We recommend arriving early to guarantee a seat. Unclaimed tickets may be released 15 minutes prior to the event.

    Accessibility

    Wheelchairs are available for free rental on a first-come, first-served basis at the Lower Tram Station above the parking structure and at the Coat Check Room in the Museum Entrance Hall.

    Seating for wheelchair users and their party is available at the back of the auditorium, as well as at the front of the space. If you'd like to sit in the front, please let a Visitor Services associate know when you check in and they can escort you to these seats.

    Assisted listening devices are available for this event. Please request one from our Visitor Services associates when you check in.

    For more information on how we can support your visit to the Getty Center, learn about accessibility at Getty.

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