The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 21, 2025

Yrenia Cervantes

1990
(American, 1959–2018)
America
gelatin silver print
Image: 22.9 x 30.5 cm (9 x 12 in.); Paper: 27.9 x 35.6 cm (11 x 14 in.)
Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2023.10
© Laura Aguilar Trust
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

A native of the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California, Aguilar had deep roots in California that she traced back through several generations of women in her family.

Description

Laura Aguilar photographed diverse artists in the burgeoning Chicano/a art community in East Los Angeles, where she lived and worked. The portrait of Yrenia Cervantes, a Chicana activist and mural painter, shows the sitter’s bedroom elaborately decorated like a home altar, a common sight in borderlands homes.
  • 1990-2023
    Estate of Laura Aguilar, Los Angeles, CA, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    March 6, 2023-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Fallah, Nadiah Rivera. “Picturing the Border: Contemporary photography from the US-Mexico borderlands.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 65, no. 2 (June/July/August 2024): 6-7. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 7.
  • Picturing the Border. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 21, 2024-January 5, 2025).
  • {{cite web|title=Yrenia Cervantes|url=false|author=Laura Aguilar|year=1990|access-date=21 June 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.10