iFiesta Fotográfica! is an exhibition commemorating El Pueblo’s past, present and future through
photography, storytelling and design. This well-publicized pilot event (coverage by Channel 13, Channel 4, Tucson Sentinel), iFiesta Fotográfica: El Pueblo Celebration!, was hosted at the historic patio on May 6, 2023, and launched the ongoing partnership between UArizona courses and community reinvestment efforts uplifting this celebrated Southside community center through collaborative study, interpretation, and design thinking.
El Pueblo Neighborhood Center is a hub for recreational and public services, neighborly exchange and community placekeeping in Tucson’s Southside. Located at the intersection of Irvington & South Sixth Avenue, it is adjacent to the Laos Transit Center and the Tucson Rodeo Grounds, houses such key Tucson Chicano cultural landmarks as the Frank De La Cruz Public Library and the headquarters of US Congressman Raúl Grijalva. Wrapped in murals and memory and traversed by families and public servants, the center is now the focus of efforts by multiple stakeholders in the city and private sector for revitalization and reinvestment. The centerpiece of the event "¡Fiesta Fotográfica: El Pueblo Celebration!" was held in May 6, 2023 – a multimedia exhibition featuring photography, film and newly commissioned artwork commemorating El Pueblo's past, present, and future, drawing from two courses offered that Spring at UArizona through the College of Humanities and College of Architecture, Planning and Architecture (CAPLA). The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), as part of community engagement for the major retrospective for Linda McCartney, supported student learning through visual literacy modules inspired by the photographic pedagogy of Hazel Larsen Archer, celebrated Tucson-based photographer and teacher of McCartney. The reception welcomed over two hundred audience members from mixed communities in an event that highlighted local entrepreneurs, caterers, organizations and cultural treasures, with remarks by elected officials and community advocates and collaborative memory-making including an interactive timetable, photobooth and Polaroid station.
We would like to acknowledge funding for this project from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA); the Marshall Foundation; the UArizona Experiential Learning Design Accelerator; UArizona Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI) Faculty Seed Grant, which supported sessions with Latinx digital humanist scholar and course artist-in-resident, Dr. Leigh-Anna Hidalgo; Arts|Humanities|Resilience Grant from UArizona College of Fine Arts (CFA) Research, Innovation & Impact (RII) and the Arizona Institute for Resilience (AIR), which is providing support for our newly inducted community documentarians and artists-in-residence, Luis Gonzalez and Jessica Wolff. We want to thank community and teaching partners, collaborators and storytellers from Sunnyside Foundation; the Office of Congressman Raúl Grijalva; Nuestras Raíces Pima County Public Library (PCPL) and Frank de la Cruz-El Pueblo Public Library; Raúl Council Member Lane Santa Cruz and Ward 1; Council Member Richard Fimbres and Ward 5; Supervisor Adelita S. Grijalva - Pima County Board of Supervisors, District 5; City of Tucson Parks and Recreation, UArizona, especially the College of Humanities (COH) and the Department of Public and Applied Humanities (PAH), College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (CAPLA), Center for Creative Photography (CCP), UArizona Libraries Special Collections.
None of this would be possible without members of our communities who participated in our Community Reinvestment Days, site visits, storytelling panels, community photo-shoots, workshops, pin-ups and reviews, who took the time to help us learn and share the story of El Pueblo.
Community Storytellers: Jesse Aguilar, Netza Aguirre, Richard Barker, Michael Barton, Cassandra Becerra, Martha Diaz, Vanessa Gallego, Mona Grijalva, Congressman Raúl Grijalva, Sharayah ‘Shay’ Jimenez, Yolanda Herrera, Nancy Johnson, Beki Quintero, Ruben Reyes, Lupita Robles, Alfonso Romero, Anna Sanchez, Councilmember Lane Santa Cruz, Melissa Salazar, Jesse Soto, Brianna Velador,
Sunnyside Foundation Staff: CEO Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Soltero, Director of Operations, Veronica Cruz-Mercado, Education & Community Manager, Karla Toledo, Administrative Coordinator, Laura Corrales, Community Investment Fund Coordinator, Selina Barajas
UArizona and Guest Instructors and Reviewers: Mireya Ballesteros, Cara Buchanan, Michelle Nicole Boyer Kelley, Denisse Brito, Lisa Duncan, Federicco Fabbri, Dr. Leigh-Anna Hidalgo, Stephanie Husman, Dr. Meg Jackson Fox, Ashley Swinford, Juliana Tobar, Emily Weirich, Kenny H. Wong, and all the UArizona students and members of our communities who made this project come to life.
“Documenting Resilience in Tucson’s Southside” is a co-creative visual engagement program in partnership with Sunnyside Foundation, a leader in advocacy for Tucson’s Southside. Made possible by a newly launched Arts|Humanities|Resilience grant program, the project establishes residencies for local artists to work with community advisors, public librarians and UArizona scholars to document, explore and manifest a “living” archive of El Pueblo and the communities that surround it.
The team’s two local artists, also alumni (or soon to be) of the University of Arizona, are premiering new work at this exhibition. As contemporary image makers, they showcase how to fuse public archival efforts with university resources and training to translate privately held memories and experiences into a collective narrative of place. Their visual projects, of which these form a start, highlight the arts and humanities dimension of Southside resilience. Taken together, they show what a future “living” archival infrastructure for Southside communities might support, the means for the community members to continue to add their own multimedia histories and stories made at and with the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center and Sunnyside Foundation.
Celebrating; Finding a Voice; Creating a SpaceCollages by Jessica Wolff
Artist Statement: Growing up in South Tucson, I’ve passed by the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center more times than I can count, though I never knew anything about its history until joining this project, a history that exists in the memories of the community, but as I have learned, was never archived. In these collages, I interact with the images and documents that have recently been collected from the personal archives of various community members who have been a part of El Pueblo’s story. I use these collages as an attempt to piece together that story and I find that people are continuously coming together. Each collage represents a different way El Pueblo has served that community: celebrating the community, giving the community a voice, and creating a space for the community. In one of the donated documents, I found this quote that reads, “the building is the people.” This is the story I tell, and with the help of people from this community, we can continue to piece that history together for future generations to know.
These collages were created entirely with images and documents about the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, donated by members of the community. Most contributions were made during Sunnyside Foundation’s Community Reinvestment Day on February 23rd, 2023. Special thanks to Cassandra Becerra, Montserrat Caballero, Julissa Galindo, Raúl Grijalva, Roberto ‘Bob’ Temarantz, and Cathy Tullgren, whose contributions are featured in these collages.
Collage Keys:
Jessica Wolff is a Mexican-American artist, born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. She is interested in exploring family, community and culture, especially regarding the ways in which they can become complicated when mixed. Jessica creates work primarily through photography, often changing techniques and exploring non-traditional approaches or mixed-media, reflecting the constant change and evolution that a community experiences. Jessica is an alum of the Sunnyside Unified School District (SUSD) and is expected to graduate with a bachelor's degree in Studio Art from the University of Arizona in May 2023. Jessica was introduced to photography from her mother and took her first course while a student at Desert View High School. She intends to continue her practice in Tucson.
Discovering The CenterVideo by Luis Fernando González
Artist Statement: The center is a place for many, it’s a place for all. The center has welcomed people with open arms since 1975, creating a culture of community on the southside of Tucson. Opening the minds of people for miles around, the center became a home for people to celebrate and live. El Pueblo Neighborhood Center became a space to celebrate life: people came to celebrate birthdays, the coming of new life, marriage– the space served a community of thousands. Food, health and education could be found here.
El Pueblo emphasized the importance of the community in relation to bringing that community together. As we move forward into the future, we must remember the past. This project is a visual reminder that history cannot be forgotten. This film will take you back to 1975, then goes through the decades of the center to show the many important values that the center has given to us.
This film incorporates media collected from the following sources: Sunnyside Foundation Community Reinvestment Days and PAH 200 El Pueblo Site Visits held in the Spring of 2023; the Tucson Journal’s story on El Pueblo Health Clinic from the Voices Unheard oral history archive and an interview conducted with Richard Ortiz Barker, former Director of the EPNC.
Luis González is a Salvadorian-American photographer and film artist. Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Luis is familiar with El Pueblo Center, playing soccer across the street at Rudy Garcia Park and basketball with his father inside the Activities Center. His partner, Leah, and daughter, Khloe, have been both muses and subject-matter throughout his career as a photographer and film artist. His films and portraiture offer straightforward takes on everyday life as a father, partner and community member. Luis is a Tucson Magnet High Magnet alumni and graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Film & TV, with a minor in Photography. Luis plans to expand his multimedia company, Eigermultimedia, to continue to do passion projects here in Tucson.