Tom & Ethel Bradley Center, CSUN

09/04/2026

We have three wonderful destinations for our readers this month. First, Mercado La Paloma’s photo exhibition, Obras de Luz / Works of Light: A 40-year History of the Japanese American Community Through the Lens of Photojournalist Mario Gershom Reyes. Second, an initial set of digital images by photographer Roland Charles, including 111 images of the aftermath of the 1997 arson fire of the First AME Zion Church on Adams Boulevard. R Third, the two art photo exhibitions that just opened at the Getty about Mexico and Los Angeles by both Mexican and Chicanx photographers.
CSUN University Library

Plus: After the Fire of the First AME Zion Church in 1997

08/07/2026

In September, the Getty will open 2 "poetic" photo exhibitions: Instante/Revelación on Mexican photography and "Every Minute Is History: Five Views of Los Angeles. We write about Mexican photographer Julián Cardona, whose collection not only documents history but also is poetic photography. Also, we celebrate the publication of Sam Quinones’s first book of photography: Our Lady of the Angels: The Virgin of Guadalupe on the Walls of Los Angeles. CSUN University Library

Plus Sam Quinones's new photo book of the murals of the Virgin of the Angels

07/03/2026

John Free (1943-2024) had a prolific career as a social documentary and street photographer, and a wonderful family. His wife, Wendy, and his son, Scott, visited the Bradley Center recently to share John’s body of work and the 10-year project documenting the lives of the community of people who lived in the Los Angeles Freight Yards. Professor Marta Valier writes about this visit, the book End of the Line, and her personal connection to Free. Also, we tell you about this outstanding community art space, the Compton Art and History Museum, and why every hood will be lucky to have an art space like that, which is expanding soon.

Life in the Los Angeles freight yards

06/05/2026

"Filmmakers Brandon Lien and Brandon Tran visited Yolanda Barrera’s home to film Change of Heart, a movie inspired by El Teatro Campesino and the Center’s exhibition Hope and Dignity on the Farmworker Movement. Also in this issue: a cyanotype workshop with Gemma Jiménez in late June at the Museum of Social Justice, and a look at the Emmy-winning documentary Critical Incident, which features John Carlos Frey’s investigation into the 2010 killing of Anastasio Hernández-Rojas by U.S. Border Patrol agents."
https://bradleycenterliberated.substack.com/p/change-of-heart-and-yolanda-barrera

05/01/2026

Photographer Carolina Fuentes writes about her collaborative photographic series The Birth of the Mascogo Black People (El Nacimiento de los Negros Mascogos) in her native Coahuila, Mexico. Also, we invite you to attend the Getty Center’s May 21 panel, Backstage: An Unfurling of the JPC | Black Photography and Visual Culture, with the Bradley Center’s historian and archivist, Keith Rice. Also at the Getty, you can attend the May 20th presentation of the book Marching West: The Los Angeles Civil Rights Movement in Photographs by the Bradley Center’s director of special projects, Dr. Karin Standford, and Mark Speltz. CSUN University Library

Also, how the photographers of Johnson Publishing Company influenced Black visual culture

04/09/2026

Judy Pace June 15, 1942-March 11, 2026.
On April 9, 2014, and June 11, 2014, Tom & Ethel Bradley Center historian Keith Rice had the privilege of interviewing the talented and pioneering actress Judy Pace. We would like to send our deepest condolences to her family. CSUN University Library

04/03/2026

Last month, we visited Bobtown, Louisiana, where Los Angeles-based photographer Roland Charles (1938-2000) grew up, surrounded by an extended family, all of them descendants of Robert Celestin and Betsy Creecy. This month, we share part of that journey. CSUN University Library

The Bradley Center visited Charles's hometown

04/02/2026

Exhibition Gives New Life to Bradley Center Photos as It Explores ‘Voices of Water' CSUN University Library
https://newsroom.csun.edu/2026/04/02/exhibition-gives-new-life-to-bradley-center-photos-as-it-explores-voices-of-water/

03/06/2026

“Mboso ri Apú (Voices of Water)” opens this month at the Museum of Social Justice! Madre Monte reimagines Richard Cross’s photos of Palenque de San Basilio. Don’t miss the Mar 14 reception + The Getty’s Black Arts Movement show. Honoring the late Carlos Spector. CSUN University Library

Art Collective hacks Richard Cross's photo archive by creating new layers of information

02/28/2026

Register for the opening of our new exhibition, "Voices of Water," where the art collective Madre Monte re-signifies, intervenes, and transformes Richard Cross's photos of Palenque de San Basilio. Saturday, March 14, 2026.
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/voices-of-water-opening-reception CSUN University Library