Current Exhibits

The 20/20 Experience: Impact on COVID-19 on the Cal State LA Campus Community

The 20/20 Experience: Impact on COVID-19 on the Cal State LA Campus Community is a student-curated online exhibition featuring the Pandemic Diaries Project. The project aims to create an archive of digital diaries that capture the narratives and life experiences of our campus community during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This exhibit focuses on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Cal State LA student body. It showcases a timeline of past health crises on campus from the University Times, artifacts of current events in the greater Los Angeles community, and direct quotes from students enrolled in Spring and Fall 2020. Core topics include the shifting expectations of virtual education, racial and social inequality, economic impact and job loss, mental and physical health, and changes in family dynamics. The 20/20 Experience concludes with examples of student resilience, projects documenting COVID-19 at Cal State LA from various angles, and resources regarding the virus itself.

View the 20/20 Experience exhibit online.

Art from the Frontlines: Visual Expressions from Medical Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Art from the Frontlines: Visual Expressions from Medical Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic is an exhibit that features artwork created by healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in-depth interviews with the artists. The discussions and artwork take a deeper look into the struggles and everyday battles that the healthcare industry faced at the height of the pandemic and continues to face as we work towards mass vaccinations. This exhibit places a human face on the “essential workers” who worked diligently to keep us all safe, honoring their contributions and celebrating the ways in which they coped during this trying time.

This exhibit showcases artwork by:

• MK Czerwiec, RN, MA aka Comic Nurse of GraphicMedicine.org
• Dr. Grace Farris MD, Chief of Hospital Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City
• Dr. Michael Natter, Endocrinology Fellow at NYU/Bellevue in New York City
• Marina Peix Asensio, Pediatric Nurse from University Hospital of Cruces in Bilbao, Spain
• Prescription Cartoons, a Nurse Practitioner from New York
• Dr. Ali Tayyeb PhD, RN, from the Patricia A. Chin School of Nursing, California State University, Los Angeles
• Dr. Alex Thomas MD, Pediatric Allergist at the Center for Asthma and Allegries in Chicago, Illinois
• Tolo Villalonga Mut, Pediatric Nurse Specialist from Mallorca, Spain

View Art from the Frontlines exhibit online.

Established in Ink: Asian American Tattoos from the Streets to the Studio

Established in Ink: Asian American Tattoos from the Streets to the Studio is a visual storyboard about one way Asian Americans tell stories about themselves, their culture, and their aesthetics: on their skins. Though tattooing is a practice dating back thousands of years in multiple cultures and for multiple reasons. This process of storytelling begins in the studios of ink shops between the artist and their clients. "Established in Ink" showcases tattoos as a popular expression of art and storytelling within Asian America through the lens of artist Richard Vasak. This digital exhibit also tells a little about his story: from the streets to the studio. View the exhibit online.

View Established in Ink exhibit online.

Mervyn M. Dymally: The Bridge-Builder of Los Angeles

Mervyn M. Dymally: The Bridge-Builder of Los Angeles is an exhibit featuring public educator, California State University, Los Angeles alumni, and politician Mervyn M. Dymally (1926 -2012), a Trinidadian immigrant who became the first Black Lt. Governor of California. Dymally emigrated from Trinidad as a result of the British vestiges of colonialism and imperialism in the Caribbean and abroad, which resulted in his anti-imperialist activism regarding US foreign policy and international relations. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, state violence, and the build-up of prisons in California, this exhibit highlights Dymally's deep commitment to human rights and advocacy for those who have been “Othered”, in history.

View Mervyn M. Dymally exhibit online.