b. Los Angeles, CA 1965

Christina Fernandez (b. 1965) a Los Angeles–based artist, has spent over three decades conducting rich explorations of migration, labor, gender, her Mexican American identity, and the capacities of photography itself. 

She earned her BA at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1989 and her MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in 1996. She is associate professor at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California, where she has been on faculty since 2001. Fernandez’s projects have been featured in major exhibitions including Home—So Different, So Appealing (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2017), Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008), East of the River: Chicano Art Collectors Anonymous (Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2000), Flight Patterns (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2000), and InSite97 (San Diego and Tijuana, 1997). Her work has also been exhibited at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso; Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs; Self Help Graphics and Art, Los Angeles; and Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, among other venues. In 2021, Fernandez was one of the first artists honored with the prestigious Latinx Artist Fellowship, an initiative of the US Latinx Art Forum. Christina Fernandez: Multiple Exposures is the first major monographic museum exhibition of her work. 

Education

1994-96 M.F.A. California Institute of the Arts, Valencia CA
1987-89 B.A. University of California, Los Angeles

Solo Exhibitions

2025 DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL
2024 Multiple Exposures (a thirty-year survey) Princeton University Art Museum, NJ and the San Jose Museum of Art, CA
2022-23 Christina Fernandez: Multiple Exposures (a thirty year survey), California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA
2022 Christina Fernandez: Under the Sun, Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, Claremont, CA
2020 Christina Fernandez, Survey, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
2017 Prospect, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
2010 Residue, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
2006 Inside and Out, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Space Available, Voz Alta, San Diego, CA
2003 Lavanderia, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
Artist Projects Series, Pomona College Museum of Art, Pomona, CA
2000 Excerpts from Recent Work, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA
1999 Ruin, solo exhibition, Los Angeles Center For Photographic Studies
1998 The Body is an Analog & Bend: Two works on sight, California State University Northridge
1993 Sin Cool/Without Cool, Daniel Saxon Gallery, LA, CA
1992 Hidden Crimson, Daniel Saxon Gallery, LA, CA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022 The Double: Identity and Difference in Art Since 1900, the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
2021 CrossBorder Photography Images of the US and Mexico from the Permanent Collection, Benton Museum of Art, Pomona, CA
2020 Frieze NY, Art Fair (online exhibition)
Four Artists, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
Landmarks, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Southland, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
2019 Imaging Change: History, Memory, and Social Justice, Palm Springs Art Museum, CA
Encore: Reenactment in Contemporary Photography, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Special Installation of New Acquisition, Museum of Modern Art, NYNY
In the Sunshine of Neglect, California Museum of Photography, UCR Arts, Riverside, CA
2018 Multiply, Identify, Her, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
2017 Home—So Different, So Appealing, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
Six Chicana Photographers, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
Golden State, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
2016 Don't Look Back: The 1990s at MOCA, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Urban California, Frenso Art Museum, Fresno, CA
When We Were Young, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
2014 Sites of Memory, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
This is Not a Self-Portrait, CSUN Gallery, Northridge, CA
2013 Our America, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, CA
Off the Grid, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
2012 Making Sense – Contemporary LA Photo Artists, Museum of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2011 Reflection Room, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown Massachusetts
2010 The City Proper, curated by James Welling, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Selections from the Sereno Series, LBCC Art Gallery, Long Beach, CA
How Many Billboards, Art in Stead, MAK Center, West Hollywood, CA
In Color: New American Stories from LACMA’s Photography Collection, CA
2009 Status Report, Bric Contempory Arts, Brooklyn, NY
2008 Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, LACMA, LA, CA
This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in Los Angeles Photographs, Huntington Memorial Library and Gardens, San Marino, CA
Index: Conceptualism in California, MOCA, LA, CA
2006 Leaving Aztlan: Redux, Arena 1, Santa Monica, CA
Leaving Aztlan: Redux, LIMN Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Leaving Aztlan: Redux, Wignall Gallery, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Inter-polations, Palm Springs Museum of Art, CA
2005 New Acquisitions, MOCA, LA, CA
Insatiable Desires, USC Fisher Gallery, LA , CA
2004 At Work: The Art of California Labor (traveling)
2003 Te La Lavas, Gallery 727, LA, CA
Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self, online exhibition, sponsored by International Center of Photography, NY, NY
At Work:The Art of California Labor, San Francisco State University, CA
2002 Vacant, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
Art/Women/California: Parallels and Intersections, 1950-2000, San Jose Museum of Art, CA
2001 Aztlan Today: Chicano Postnation, Bronx Museum of Art, NY
2000 Flight Patterns, Museum of Contemporary Art, LA, CA
East of the River, Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA
Excerpts from Recent work, Orange Coast College, CA
Tethered to the Logic of Homo Sapiens, Riverside Museum of Art, CA
1999 Intermission Projections, Side Street Projects, Laemmle Theatre, LA
Aztlan Today: Chicano Post-nation, Canal Isabel Segunda, Madrid, Spain
Not on Any Map, Betty Rymer Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1998 I to Eye III, Cirrus Gallery, LA, CA
Women Who Shoot, New Space, LA, CA
1997 Insite '97, a San Diego/Tijuana exhibition, (two site-specific works at the Greyhound bus station, San Ysidro, CA and near border wall in Colonia Libertad, Tijuana, MX)
Public Image, Private Focus, Cal State Los Angeles, LA, CA
Significant Departures, Cerritos College, Cerritos, CA
1996 The Virgin, Frida, and Me, Saddleback Community College, Mission Viejo, CA
Working Histories: Labor in Southern California, LACPS, CA
Here Now… Y Que?, Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego, CA
Intersecting Identities, Fisher Gallery, USC, LA, CA
Chicanolandia, Sesnon Gallery, UC Santa Cruz, CA
1995 WestWorld: Emerging Los Angeles Artists, Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona, CA
Iconography as Metaphor, Pierce College Art Gallery, Woodland Hills, CA
Chicanolandia, Los Alamos Historical Society, Los Alamos, NM
Chicanolandia, Peoria Arts Commission, Peoria, AZ
From the West, Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA
Yo Hablo/I Speak, A.R.T. Press, LA, CA
1994 Mi Gente, Breeden Gallery, Orange, CA
Encuentro, University of Guadalajara, Mexico
1993 Chicano Aesthetic – 4 Artists: A Dialogue, Georgia State University Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Chicano/Chicana: Visceral Images, The Works Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA
Chicanolandia, M.A.R.S., Phoenix, AZ. Arizona State Commission for the Art
La Familia, Century Gallery, Sylmar, CA
1992 Chicano Y Latino: Parallels and Divergence, Kimberly Gallery, Washington, DC
Chicano Y Latino: Parallels and Divergence, El Paso Museum of Art, TX
Ojo Abierto/Open Eye, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, CA
Breaking Barriers, Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA
New Photographers, Los Angeles Photography Center, CA
1991 Chicano & Latino: Parallels and Divergence, Daniel Saxon Gallery, LA, CA (catalogue)
L.A. Iluminado: Eight Los Angeles Photographers, Otis/Parsons Gallery, LA, CA (catalogue)
ExVotos y Ofrendas – Día de los Muertos: A Woman’s Point of View, Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, CA
1990 In Visible Colors, Los Angeles Photography Center, CA
1989 Day of the Dead/Dia de Los Muertos, Self Help Graphics, CA

Publications and Catalogs (selected)

Christina Fernandez: Multiple Exposures, California Museum of Photography, UCR Arts, 2022
Meyer, James, “The Double: Identity and Difference in Art since 1900,” The Double: Identity and Difference in Art since 1900, Princeton University Press, p. 45, 86, 2022
Ferrer, Elizabeth, Latinx Photography in the United States, pgs. 95-96, 97, 106, 2020
Noriega, Chon, “To Dwell on this Matrix of Places,” Home So Different So Appealing, pgs. 27-30, 2018
Jane Brown and Marla Humburg Kennedy, Both Sides of Sunset: Photographing Los Angeles, 2015
Henry, Lisa,How Many Billboards, Art in Stead, 2010
Tejada, Roberto, National Camera: Photography and Mexico’s Image Environment, 2009
Fox, Howard, “Theater of the Inauthentic,” Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, p.81, 2008
Gonzalez, Rita, “Phantom Sites: The Official, The Unofficial, and The Orificial,” Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, p.66, 2008
Noriega, Chon, “The Orphans of Modernism,” Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, p.26, p.41, 2008
Rugg, Judith, and Michele Sedwick, Issues in Curating Contemporary Art and Performance, 2008
Perez, Laura, Altarities: Chicana Art: The Politics of Spirit and Aesthetic Altarities, 2007.
Marla Humburg Kennedy, and Ben Stiller, editors, Looking At Los Angeles,2005
McKenna, Terry, “Collecting Against Forgetting: ‘East of the River’ Chicano Art Collectors Anonymous” in Richard Meyer’s collection Representing the Passions: Histories, Bodies, Visions, 2003
Pinkel, Sheila, "Women, Body, Earth," Women, Art and Technology, editor Judy Malloy, MIT Press, 2003
Mesa-Baines, Amelia, “Calafia/Califas,” Art/Women/California, Parallels and Intersections, 1950 – 2000, editors Diana Burgess Fuller and Daniela Salvioni, University of California Press with San Jose Museum of Art, 2002, pp. 137-138, 2003
Lippard, Lucy, On the Beaten Track; Tourism, Art and Place, The New Press, NY, 1999
Gonzalez, Rita, “Cambio de Cara: Looking at Works in the Chicano Art Collectors Anonymous Collections,” East of The River, Santa Mnica Museum of Art, 2000 p.35
Butler, Cornelia H., “Document and Intervention,” Flight Patterns, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2000, p.37
Urban Latino Cultures, editors Raul Villa, Micheal Dear, ADOBE L.A., Sage Press, 1999 pp. 50-55
Sichel, Bertha, Aztlan Today: The Chicano Postnation, Consejeria de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid, 1999 pp. 11-13, 62-71
Perez, Laura, "That Which Remains," Ruin, Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, 1999
Private Time in Public Space: Insite ‘97,editor Sally Yard, 1997, pp 59, 106
Gonzalez, Jennifer A., "Negotiated Frontiers: Contemporary Chicano Photography," From the West, Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA, 1995
Noriega, Chon A., "Many Wests,” From the West, Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA, 1995
Avila Glenna,"Eight Los Angeles Photographers," L.A. Iluminado, Otis/Parsons, CA, 1991

Periodicals, printed and online (selected 1991–2022)

2022 Guest artist interview and presentation, UCSD (video)
Christina Fernandez's Ethics of Looking, by Leah Ollman, Photograph Magazine, November 1, 2022
Review: Christina Fernandez's photographs, on view in Riverside, are a major pivot in Chicano art by Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2022
Recinos, Eva, Christina Fernandez’s Multifacted Visions of Life in California, Aperture, August 25
Wolf, Olivia, Long Overdue: L.A. Photographer christina FernandezFinds Her time Under the Sun, KCET Artbound, September 14
2021 Latinx Photography in the US: Elizabeth Ferrer with Roberto Tejada, Live from the Whitney(video)
Warhol Foundation Distributes $3.9 Million to 51 Organizations Grappling with Pandemic Losses, Hyperallergic, January 13, 2021
2020 Rita Gonzalez and Christina Fernandez: Conversations with Artists, LACMA (video)
In Conversation: Susanna Temkin and Christina Fernandez, El Museo del Barrio (video)
Brenner, Fernanda, Diving into Legacy…Interview with Rodrigo Moura, Frieze Week Magazine, April 21
Haddad, Natalie, Critic’s Pick Los Angeles, Artforum
2019 Lucy Gallun, New to MoMA: Christina Fernandez’s Maria’s Great Expedition, MoMA Magazine, May 31.
2017 Dreskin, Jeanne, Christina Fernandez’s Lines of Sight, Aperture, October 4.
Zellen, Jody, Art and Cake, October 12.
2012 Aguilar, Carlyn, Notes on Looking; Contemporary Art From Los Angeles, February 2.
2010 Knight, Christoper, Los Angeles Times, Culture Monster, March 4.
2009 Wellen, Laura Lindenberger, …might be good, June 14.
2006 Westerbeck, Colin, Photosynthesis, West Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Sunday, Sept 17, p.13
2003 Siphron, Catherine, Reviews, Artweek, September 2003
2002 Myers, Holly, “Vacant Fills a Space in the history of Urban Sprawl,” Art Reviews, Los Angeles Times, Calendar, Friday, March 1
2000 Prado, Reina, Chicano Art off the 60 Freeeway, BOCA, March – February p. 15
Gilbert, Rick, Reviews, Artweek, January, p.24-25
1999 Butler, Cornelia H., Parkett, No. 57, p.193
1998 Nolan, Timothy, Onview: InSite 97, San Diego and Tijuana, New Arts Examiner, Feb., p 40.
Johnson, Reed, Art/Sneak Peek, Daily News, Friday, February 6, p 28.
Hollander, Kurt, Import/Export; Crossover Dreams, Art in America, May, pg. 48.
1996 Chavoya, C. Ondine, How Their West Was Shunned: in the Mexican Museum's "From the West” Exhibit, Frontera Magazine pp.32,33
Pincus, Robert L., Art Review, San Diego Union Tribune, Sunday, June 2, p E 1,7.
1993 Urban, Hope. Art Reviews, L.A. Reader, Thursday, May 6.
Grayson, Mathew, Art, Detour Magazine, June/July.
Kapitanoff, Nancy, Art, Los Angeles Times, Friday, October 9, p F 8.
1992 Goldman, Shifra M. Mexican Splendor The Official and Unofficial Stories, Visions: Art Quarterly, Spring p.12.
Kandel, Susan, Calendar – Art Reviews, Los Angeles Times, Thursday, June 11, F7.
Continuing and Recommended, ArtScene, July/August, p 18.
1991 Benavídez, Max. Illuminating the Invisible, Los Angeles Times, Sunday, July 14, p 3.
Kandel, Susan. L.A. in Review, Arts Magazine, December, pg. 89-91.
Martínez, Rubén. Free-Trade Art, L.A. Weekly, November 1-7, pp. 17-23.

Collections (selected, 1995-2022)

Alta Med collection

Amon Carter Museum of Art

Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Benton Museum

Chicano Art Collectors Anonymous

The Capital Group

Creative Artists Agency

Fog Museum of Art

Hammer Museum

Hood Museum of Art

J Paul Getty Museum

Gregory Gooding

David Knaus

LACMA

Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA

MOCA, LA

MoMA

National Gallery of Art

Princeton Museum of Art

San Antonio Museum of Contemporary Art

SFMOMA

Smithsonian Museum of American Art

USC/Fischer Gallery

Whitney Museum of Art

Williams College Museum of Art

Awards and Honors

2021 Latinx Artist Fellowship
2018 The Artist Projects, TAP/LA
2011 California Community Foundation Mid-Career Artist Fellowship
2006 Alpert Award Nominee, Ucross Artist Residency recipient
1999 Centro de la Imagen, D. F., Mexico, Artist Residency
1998 Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, Artist Commission
1997 InSite ‘97 Artist Commission
1995 Richard Seaver Scholarship
1994 Mexican Museum SF, Artist Commission and James Irvine Minority Scholarship
1993 California Arts Council, Artist-in-Residence, Second Street Elementary School, LA,
1992 Brody Fellowship

Teaching

2017–2020 Department Chair of Art, Cerritos College
2000–present Associate Professor, Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA
2006–2008 Director Cerritos College Art Gallery
2000–2008 Department Chair of Photography, Cerritos College
9/00–5/01 Beginning and Intermediate Photography, Digital Imaging, California
1/99–12/99 State University, Long Beach

Artist Panels and Presentations

2019 An Artist’s Perspective, Medium San Diego and MCASD
2017 Six Chicana Photographers, Occidental College, LA, CA
Home So Different So Appealing, LACMA, LA, CA
2014 This Is Not A Self – Portrait Roundtable, CSUN Gallery, Northridge, CA
2011 Artist Talk, The City Proper, organized by James Welling, Margo Leavin Gallery
2010 Artist Panel, How Many Billboards, Art in Stead, MAK Center, West Hollywood, CA
2008 Aparaciones Fantasmales, panel discussion,Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, MX
Mexican Culture in the Photographs of Graciela Iturbide, J. Paula Getty Museum, LA, CA
Point-of-View Artist Talk for Danza de la Cabrita (The Goats Dance), Photographs by Graciela Iturbide, J. Paul Getty Museum, LA, CA
2007 Artist talk with Roberto Tejada, LACMA
2005 Insatiable Desires, Artist panel, USC Fisher Gallery, LA, CA
2003 UCLA Undergraduate Juried Exhibition, jurror and panel
2000 Recent Work, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA
1999 The Latino Aesthetic, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
1998 Artist dialogue with Patssi Valdez, Cal State Northridge.
1997 “Youth Arts Roundtable; On Youth, the Arts, Self – Expression and Representation,” Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies (LACPS), organizer and moderator.
Public Image/Private Focus, Artist presentation, with Willie Middlebrook, Cal State Los Angeles."Xicana," artists panel, Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA.
1996 Intersecting Identities, Artist panel, moderated by Teresa McKenna, University of Southern California, LA, CA.
1993 “The Chicano Aesthetic; Contemporary Chicano Art," Artist lecture, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
1992 Breaking Barriers, Artist presentation, Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA.
Chicano Y Latino: Parallels and Divergence, Artist panel, El Paso Museum of Art, TX.
1991 L.A. Iluminado, Artist Panel, Otis Parsons School of Art and Design, LA, CA.

Curatorial Projects

2022 Tierra Entre Medio, Culver Center of the Arts, Riverside, CA
2009 Ismael de Anda III, Viento, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk CA
2008 Selections from the Collection of El Nopal Press Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk CA
2008 Reciprocity, artists Sandra de la Loza and Brian Moss, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk CA
2007 Alex Donis, Selected Works: 1995 – 2006
2007 Unprimed, aritists Xavier Cazares Cortez, Gary Garay, Pedro Rios Martinez and Shizu Saldamondo, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk CA
2006 Patrick “Pato” Hebert, PhotoWorks: 2000 – 2006 Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk CA
1998 Co-curator, Xtrascape, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, CA