SAM COMEN
"As a documentary photographer, Sam Comen has long focused on themes of American identity, community-building, immigration, democracy, and social justice.” —Taína Caragol, National Portrait Gallery, Curator of Painting and Latino Art and History. Comen’s portrait "Jesus Sera, Dishwasher” from the series on view at Grand Park’s 4th of July Celebration entitled Working America was awarded Second Prize in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s triennial portrait exhibition The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today. The exhibition is currently touring the US through the end of 2021. His newest body of work, produced during the COVID-19 pandemic, is The Longest Shift, a series of still photographs, motion portraits, and intimate first-person interviews with the essential workers who’ve remained on the front lines of pandemic epicenter Los Angeles.
JONAH ELIJAH
Jonah Elijah is a Houston, Texas native now working in Los Angeles. He received his BA in studio art from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2017. MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 2020. He discovered art during a painting course titled “painting for non-art majors”. Jonah Elijah’s work encapsulates black life in America and addresses controversial issues that actively affect the African American community. Using materials to explore economic inequality, displacement, or human rights Elijah’s artist practice embraces discomforting realities. Being raised around lower income hard ships Elijah builds off his own personal upbringing and creates works that reflect the black experience. Whether in his paintings or installations, Jonah layers his work with coded language offering an abstracted or representational view of what it’s like to be black today.
SOLIDARITY FOR SANCTUARY
Solidarity For Sanctuary is an immigrant women-led national organization that focuses on elevating the stories of our intergenerational immigrant community via the arts and educational programs. We amplify grassroots organizing by leveraging the untapped resources of the music industry and the arts, offering safe space to create social change by honoring our community and raising awareness about the issues we are currently facing.
LEARN ABOUT VENDEDORES EN ACCIÓN & SOLIDARITY FOR STREET VENDORS: THE ENTREPRENEURS OF LOS ANGELES
KPCC / LAIST
LAist's mission is to explain L.A. We believe that you deserve great local news — and that we need your help to find those stories. We listen to what you’re curious about, what keeps you up at night, and who you want held accountable. We are dedicated to strengthening the civic and cultural bonds that unite Southern Californians. We do this by providing accurate, fact-based news and forming community relationships that foster understanding, trust, loyalty and goodwill. We value curiosity, embrace complexity. We’re a non-profit organization that relies on financial support from the community to power our journalism. The LAist newsroom is also home to L.A.'s most-listened-to NPR affiliate, 89.3 KPCC.
DIANE LINDQUIST
Diane Lindquist (Mexican-American, b.1984) is a multidisciplinary designer and contemporary artist. A native Angelino, she resides South Pasadena. Her work makes modern usage of typography, color, and illustration that showcases a passion towards engagements in social justice and community building. It is notable for its use of bold colors, an homage to her Mexican-American heritage and deep affection for Swedish minimal design. Diane is the founder of GURL Museum Day, a platform for women claiming space in museums and galleries. As well as, the owner and partner of Lindquist&Co., a creative studio.
SAMANTA HELOU HERNANDEZ
Samanta Helou Hernandez is a bilingual freelance multimedia journalist, photographer, and producer covering culture, identity, gentrification, and gender issues. She is published in Playboy, PRI The World, and Eater, among others. Her work was exhibited at the International Center of Photography in New York City and the Mexican Consulate’s Dual Vision: 35 Artists Under 35. In 2017, Samanta created @ThisSideofHoover, an on-going visual archive of gentrification and resilience in East Hollywood. The project was featured in L.A. Taco, Vice, Hyperallergic, and at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. She was an associate producer for “A Woman’s Work,” a feature documentary about wage theft in NFL cheerleading that premiered at Tribeca in 2019. Samanta is an IWMF fellow and holds an M.A. in Arts Journalism from USC.