Guadalupe Rosales is an artist and archivist based in Los Angeles. Her research practice involves investigations of family history, cultural heritage, and collective memory. Her work centers on photographs, ephemera and written descriptions of Latinx culture from Los Angeles, with a focus being on women, and from a women’s point during the mid to late 1990s’ as a starting point as a way to communicate for the unrepresented in society (Latinas, women, queer, etc) and ways to reframe history of the brown youth culture.
Rosales was born in LA and remained there until she took a road trip to NYC in 2000 and ended up staying till 2015. While living in NYC for many years she missed a connection with home and family back in LA.
Searching for a connection to her home and life growing up in LA as a female Chicano in the 1990s. She struggled to find any information in archives, or the internet as to how she remembered or recognized Latinx culture in Los Angles that she experienced as a female. This inspired her to look closer at her own photographs she had saved from many years ago along with other items she had kept such as fanzine that focused on rave culture of the 1990s that Guadalupe was a part of.
While working on her MFA at The Chicago School Art Institute she created the Veteranas & Rucas and Mapponz Instagram profiles and posted some of her 90’s photos along with asking others to send some more throwback 90s pictures. From there her accounts evolved into a virtual space for Chicana and Latina women from SoCal as a key reference point.
Through audience-based contributions the accounts grew into a digital archive of over 200k
followers and 4k postings which were not about repression and instead encouraged dialogue,
and more contributions.
From this practice she has gone on to develop collaboration projects, museum exhibitions, Instagram takeovers, and books many of which use elements of family history, cultural heritage, and collective memory.
I’m drawn to many aspects of her work in creating the Veteranas and Rucas feed/archive. In particular how a throwback (nostalgic) photograph could be used as a tool for audience participation and to creates something more meaningful. And how she has used a digital platform to create a collective memory with in her own culture to build a collective historical archive that is continuing to expand, form community, collaborations, and organic growth into further positive ideas.
Nostalgia (Throwback)
Photos of our families and friends become more valuable to us as time moves forward. Especially pictures of people, places, and things that are no longer with us. When looking at pictures like these we can feel a sense of another time and place that for the most part represented something good. For example, family photo albums where content revolves around celebrations and moments of happiness or someone who cared about us who has died.
Trying to bring back those exact moments of happiness from our memory is difficult, however a photo can help to trigger an emotional response. This feeling known as nostalgia is very powerful.
Nostalgia can be a positive feeling and a recognition of better times past. (Throwback) Through Rosales posts and comments that followed she had created an open and positive space for others to keep contribute their own photos of nostalgia.
Studies have shown nostalgia can lead to instant gratification in the brain causing a dopamine chemical release similar to hearing good music or dancing. (Tierney, 2013)
Rosales search for connection to her own culture and missing her home could be seen as an exercise in nostalgia as it is for many people who pick up the old family photo album, or google an old friend to see their face from many years ago. At some point in our life’s we will relate to this feeling and need. Guadalpe Rosales has said she started Veternas and Rucas Instagram as a way to connect with her family and culture as she was on the other side of the country and felt quite distant. She posted a few photos from her own old photo albums and asked others for their Throwback pictures as well. She ended up receiving hundreds of digital files as well as physical photos from all over Southern California.
A page from Guadalupe Rosales’ personal album, which served as the basis of “Veteranas and Rucas.”
(Guadalupe Rosales)
In her classic cultural study, The Future of Nostalgia Sventlan Boym identifies two types of nostalgia, restorative and reflective.
Restorative nostalgia, as Boym describes it, “puts emphasis on nostos (returning home) and proposes to rebuild the lost home and patch up the memory gaps.” Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand, “dwells in algia (aching), in longing and loss, the imperfect process of remembrance.”
Both of these types of nostalgia are reflected in Rosalres initial reason for posting photos to Instagram. Posts relating to her cousin who had been killed while she was a teenager mourned and celebrated him. While post of friends posing in matching outfits, reflected on good times, confidence and self-representation. Other contributors joined in happily to continue posting similar content of their own which celebrate moments, and lost friends.
Through unifying others with this common feeling and concept of the Throwback(nostalgia) Rosalres tapped into something big that was so much more than a fleeting moment of nostalgia.
Within the nostalgist posts important history is revealed in a cultural /personal representation.
These fragmented pictures and comments of others patch up the memory gap of not only missing home but a missing history, therefore building a collective history.
To understand what a collective history entails it is important to understand the concept of collective memory. Originally conceived by the French philosopher and sociologist Maurice Halbwach in his book (“The Collective Memory”) 1950. Halbwachs concept was that a society can have a collective memory and that this memory is dependent upon the “cadre” or framework within which a group is situated in a society. Thus, there is not only an individual memory, but also a group memory that exists outside of and lives beyond the individual.
Consequently, an individual’s understanding of the past is strongly linked to this group consciousness. This idea of memory Halbwachs pursued to prove through people’s expression of commemoration in our culture.
Understanding these concepts is easy to comprehend how Rosales feed builds upon commemoration with celebratory posts of the past events and memorials to people who have died. When scrolling through the archive the viewer will see reoccurring poses, clothes and groups of women . Text gives the photos context in the comments section of the pictures. These series of images celebrate the subjects and in doing so give power to the women in the pictures and the women who were brave enough to post them
xxxx- Me and you after that Banda concert circa ’95 @xxxx
xxxx- We need photos like these @xxxx
xxxx- This could be us @xxxx
Comments and “likes” aimed at the photos encourage a safe place for self-expression. Rosales has talked about the emails she receives from women talking about how R n V gave them courage to share personal old photographs of themselves, sisters, mothers and friends. This sharing also features pictures of loved ones no longer alive, therefore creating a digital shrine or memorial with in the archive.
This positive communication enables a framework to be built with in the culture and community. Commenters also speak of the subjects, relationships, clothes, desires, and lost loved ones between each other continuing a public conversation. These conversations add context to the images and overall archive of Chicano culture and with a unified voice of collective memory.
This act helps to connect the fragments of each person’s post to create a fuller picture of the culture and history which now re-energizes a new form of community.
The collective memory of these conversations leads to an overall collective history that destroys any misrepresentation of Latinx culture, and from the past and in doing so reframes history of Latinx culture.
The way we’ve been represented doesn’t represent me.
-Guadalupe Rosales
From the initial creation of archives and histories of cultures misrepresentation has occurred.
Many times, as a result of the creators of the archive/history and the way images and text were used or purposely not used. Rosales talks about the moment when Fox news approached her and friends for questions and access to an underground Rave party. They gave Fox access only to have portrayed them all as gang members and criminals on the news. This report is still available to view on the internet, and continues to spread falsities.
In his seminal writing The Body and the Archive, Alan Sekula writes extensively about the history of photographic archives exploring the problems of misrepresentation and photography being used as a repressive tool against “criminals”
As an artist/archivist Rosales acknowledges misrepresentation and problematic the male view and works against it. She lets viewers comment however she also repletely defines her Instagram archive through reminders in posts as to what it is and rules she follows. (see post below)
Rosales’s also encourages a dialogue against ideas of all Latinax culture being violent criminals. Below is an example which should shows the viewer evidence of this and how it should be answered.
Rosales has talked about the emails she receives from women talking about how R n V gave them courage to share personal old photographs of themselves, sisters, mothers and friends.
This act helps to connect the fragments of each post to create a fuller picture of the culture and history which bonded the women then and now continues to build community and therefore continually leaving room for others to share and add to the overall collective history.
The overall result is giving power, self-representation and an affirmation from others based in events, styles, and moments really happened. Veterans and Rucas is an accessible archive which in its creation and expansion can be traced to Guadalupe Rosales’s research practice in investigations of family history, cultural heritage, and collective memory. She has successfully used these elements as a way to communicate for the unrepresented in society (Latinas, women, queer, etc.) and demonstrates the importance of our personal archives as a way to reframe history of the brown youth culture, all through the voices of the people it represents and the collective history being created. The feed is now is growing to cover multi generations going all the way back to the 1940s. As women and girls raid the family photo albums of their moms and grandparents looking for history and wanting to join in with the collective memory.
References
Halbwachs, M. and Coser, L. (1992). On collective memory. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.
Miranda, C. (2018). Guadalupe Rosales used Instagram to create an archive of Chicano youth of the ‘90s — now it’s an art installation. [online] Los Angeles Times. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-guadalupe-rosales-veteranas-rucas-vpam-20181019-story.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2019].
Sekula, A. (1986). The Body and the Archive. October, 39, p.3.
Tierney, J. (2013). What Is Nostalgia Good For? Quite a Bit, Research Shows. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-for-quite-a-bit-research-shows.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2019].
Rosales was born in LA and remained there until she took a road trip to NYC in 2000 and ended up staying till 2015. While living in NYC for many years she missed a connection with home and family back in LA.
Searching for a connection to her home and life growing up in LA as a female Chicano in the 1990s. She struggled to find any information in archives, or the internet as to how she remembered or recognized Latinx culture in Los Angles that she experienced as a female. This inspired her to look closer at her own photographs she had saved from many years ago along with other items she had kept such as fanzine that focused on rave culture of the 1990s that Guadalupe was a part of.
While working on her MFA at The Chicago School Art Institute she created the Veteranas & Rucas and Mapponz Instagram profiles and posted some of her 90’s photos along with asking others to send some more throwback 90s pictures. From there her accounts evolved into a virtual space for Chicana and Latina women from SoCal as a key reference point.
Through audience-based contributions the accounts grew into a digital archive of over 200k
followers and 4k postings which were not about repression and instead encouraged dialogue,
and more contributions.
From this practice she has gone on to develop collaboration projects, museum exhibitions, Instagram takeovers, and books many of which use elements of family history, cultural heritage, and collective memory.
I’m drawn to many aspects of her work in creating the Veteranas and Rucas feed/archive. In particular how a throwback (nostalgic) photograph could be used as a tool for audience participation and to creates something more meaningful. And how she has used a digital platform to create a collective memory with in her own culture to build a collective historical archive that is continuing to expand, form community, collaborations, and organic growth into further positive ideas.
Nostalgia (Throwback)
Photos of our families and friends become more valuable to us as time moves forward. Especially pictures of people, places, and things that are no longer with us. When looking at pictures like these we can feel a sense of another time and place that for the most part represented something good. For example, family photo albums where content revolves around celebrations and moments of happiness or someone who cared about us who has died.
Trying to bring back those exact moments of happiness from our memory is difficult, however a photo can help to trigger an emotional response. This feeling known as nostalgia is very powerful.
Nostalgia can be a positive feeling and a recognition of better times past. (Throwback) Through Rosales posts and comments that followed she had created an open and positive space for others to keep contribute their own photos of nostalgia.
Studies have shown nostalgia can lead to instant gratification in the brain causing a dopamine chemical release similar to hearing good music or dancing. (Tierney, 2013)
Rosales search for connection to her own culture and missing her home could be seen as an exercise in nostalgia as it is for many people who pick up the old family photo album, or google an old friend to see their face from many years ago. At some point in our life’s we will relate to this feeling and need. Guadalpe Rosales has said she started Veternas and Rucas Instagram as a way to connect with her family and culture as she was on the other side of the country and felt quite distant. She posted a few photos from her own old photo albums and asked others for their Throwback pictures as well. She ended up receiving hundreds of digital files as well as physical photos from all over Southern California.
A page from Guadalupe Rosales’ personal album, which served as the basis of “Veteranas and Rucas.”
(Guadalupe Rosales)
In her classic cultural study, The Future of Nostalgia Sventlan Boym identifies two types of nostalgia, restorative and reflective.
Restorative nostalgia, as Boym describes it, “puts emphasis on nostos (returning home) and proposes to rebuild the lost home and patch up the memory gaps.” Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand, “dwells in algia (aching), in longing and loss, the imperfect process of remembrance.”
Both of these types of nostalgia are reflected in Rosalres initial reason for posting photos to Instagram. Posts relating to her cousin who had been killed while she was a teenager mourned and celebrated him. While post of friends posing in matching outfits, reflected on good times, confidence and self-representation. Other contributors joined in happily to continue posting similar content of their own which celebrate moments, and lost friends.
Through unifying others with this common feeling and concept of the Throwback(nostalgia) Rosalres tapped into something big that was so much more than a fleeting moment of nostalgia.
Within the nostalgist posts important history is revealed in a cultural /personal representation.
These fragmented pictures and comments of others patch up the memory gap of not only missing home but a missing history, therefore building a collective history.
To understand what a collective history entails it is important to understand the concept of collective memory. Originally conceived by the French philosopher and sociologist Maurice Halbwach in his book (“The Collective Memory”) 1950. Halbwachs concept was that a society can have a collective memory and that this memory is dependent upon the “cadre” or framework within which a group is situated in a society. Thus, there is not only an individual memory, but also a group memory that exists outside of and lives beyond the individual.
Consequently, an individual’s understanding of the past is strongly linked to this group consciousness. This idea of memory Halbwachs pursued to prove through people’s expression of commemoration in our culture.
Understanding these concepts is easy to comprehend how Rosales feed builds upon commemoration with celebratory posts of the past events and memorials to people who have died. When scrolling through the archive the viewer will see reoccurring poses, clothes and groups of women . Text gives the photos context in the comments section of the pictures. These series of images celebrate the subjects and in doing so give power to the women in the pictures and the women who were brave enough to post them
xxxx- Me and you after that Banda concert circa ’95 @xxxx
xxxx- We need photos like these @xxxx
xxxx- This could be us @xxxx
Comments and “likes” aimed at the photos encourage a safe place for self-expression. Rosales has talked about the emails she receives from women talking about how R n V gave them courage to share personal old photographs of themselves, sisters, mothers and friends. This sharing also features pictures of loved ones no longer alive, therefore creating a digital shrine or memorial with in the archive.
This positive communication enables a framework to be built with in the culture and community. Commenters also speak of the subjects, relationships, clothes, desires, and lost loved ones between each other continuing a public conversation. These conversations add context to the images and overall archive of Chicano culture and with a unified voice of collective memory.
This act helps to connect the fragments of each person’s post to create a fuller picture of the culture and history which now re-energizes a new form of community.
The collective memory of these conversations leads to an overall collective history that destroys any misrepresentation of Latinx culture, and from the past and in doing so reframes history of Latinx culture.
The way we’ve been represented doesn’t represent me.
-Guadalupe Rosales
From the initial creation of archives and histories of cultures misrepresentation has occurred.
Many times, as a result of the creators of the archive/history and the way images and text were used or purposely not used. Rosales talks about the moment when Fox news approached her and friends for questions and access to an underground Rave party. They gave Fox access only to have portrayed them all as gang members and criminals on the news. This report is still available to view on the internet, and continues to spread falsities.
In his seminal writing The Body and the Archive, Alan Sekula writes extensively about the history of photographic archives exploring the problems of misrepresentation and photography being used as a repressive tool against “criminals”
As an artist/archivist Rosales acknowledges misrepresentation and problematic the male view and works against it. She lets viewers comment however she also repletely defines her Instagram archive through reminders in posts as to what it is and rules she follows. (see post below)
Rosales’s also encourages a dialogue against ideas of all Latinax culture being violent criminals. Below is an example which should shows the viewer evidence of this and how it should be answered.
Rosales has talked about the emails she receives from women talking about how R n V gave them courage to share personal old photographs of themselves, sisters, mothers and friends.
This act helps to connect the fragments of each post to create a fuller picture of the culture and history which bonded the women then and now continues to build community and therefore continually leaving room for others to share and add to the overall collective history.
The overall result is giving power, self-representation and an affirmation from others based in events, styles, and moments really happened. Veterans and Rucas is an accessible archive which in its creation and expansion can be traced to Guadalupe Rosales’s research practice in investigations of family history, cultural heritage, and collective memory. She has successfully used these elements as a way to communicate for the unrepresented in society (Latinas, women, queer, etc.) and demonstrates the importance of our personal archives as a way to reframe history of the brown youth culture, all through the voices of the people it represents and the collective history being created. The feed is now is growing to cover multi generations going all the way back to the 1940s. As women and girls raid the family photo albums of their moms and grandparents looking for history and wanting to join in with the collective memory.
References
Halbwachs, M. and Coser, L. (1992). On collective memory. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.
Miranda, C. (2018). Guadalupe Rosales used Instagram to create an archive of Chicano youth of the ‘90s — now it’s an art installation. [online] Los Angeles Times. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-guadalupe-rosales-veteranas-rucas-vpam-20181019-story.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2019].
Sekula, A. (1986). The Body and the Archive. October, 39, p.3.
Tierney, J. (2013). What Is Nostalgia Good For? Quite a Bit, Research Shows. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-for-quite-a-bit-research-shows.html [Accessed 12 Nov. 2019].