UCR ARTS Presents Christina Fernandez’s First Monographic Museum Exhibition

Christina Fernandez‘s (Art MFA 96) exhibition Multiple Exposures is currently on view at UCR ARTS’s California Museum of Photography through Feb. 5, 2023. The exhibition marks the first extensive solo survey of Fernandez’s work, which centers on migration, labor, gender, her Mexican American identity, and photographic potential. 

Showcasing works that span three decades, the four-part exhibition examines Fernandez’s connections to Los Angeles, public and private spaces, personal and historical narratives, exurban and urban spaces, and relationships between Mexico and the United States. The art provokes audiences to reconsider history, the border, and those who cross and inhabit it. 

Curatorial advisor Chon Noriega said, “Christina’s photography powerfully engages that which has been written out of history or rendered invisible in day-to-day life.”

The four sections are as follows:

• María’s Great Expedition (1995–96) is a reflection on the history of American photography that also highlights the life of Fernandez’s grandmother.
• Lavanderia (2002–03) is a combination of 10 color night views of laundromats in LA’s Eastside along with black-and-white works.
• View from Here (2017–19) is a collection of windows from the homes of multiple artists, and Fernandez’s most recent work.
• Sereno (2006–10) is a series that uses a medium-format camera to document daily walks with Fernandez’s son in El Sereno, concluding with a reflection of life in the Trump era titled American Trailer (2018).

Alongside Multiple Exposures, Fernandez is curating two other exhibitions in Southern California: Tierra Entre Medio at UCR ARTS from September through April and Christina Fernandez: Under the Sun at Pomona College’s Benton Museum of Art through December.

Born in LA, Fernandez earned her BA at the University of California Los Angeles in 1989 and her MFA at CalArts in 1996. She has worked at Cerritos College as an associate professor and former chair of the art department. 

Her work has been exhibited across North America at galleries including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, LA, The Getty Center, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Bronx Museum, El Paso Museum of Art, Palm Springs Art Museum, and Galería de la Raza, among others.

—by Ishika Muchhal