photographer

natalia ventura (she/her) is a multimedia artist and organizer who lives, works, and hails from the Kumeyaay borderlands of San Diego-Tijuana. natalia is a memory worker and dream worker, engaging in the radical act of remembering what once was to move intentionally towards what is yet to come. She leads an inner studio practice that explores her personal experiences as a Mexican-Cuban-American woman, and an outer social practice that engages her community in collective healing of the borderlands. She aims to build a liberated future within and around her through her creative practice.

photographer

I am a Chicana / Mexican-American film photographer and Vinyl DJ from San Diego, California. I aim to capture our South San Diego border-town communities and its people, as well as document local landmarks and spaces. I am inspired by my upbringing, family, and friends. I firmly believe our experiences are fine art, and aim to amplify our stories.

For all inquires, email:

ginarosas@gmail.com

photographer

Janet Lopez is a self-taught photographer based in Encinitas, CA. A chicana Inspired by the vibrant colors that can be highlighted in Street Photography specifically Portraits. Though not formally trained, Janet has developed her own skills through dedicated self-study, experimentation, and a passion for capturing still emotions. Janet is particularly interested in capturing the hidden beauty that can be made in moments we overlook at times. Appreciating the style, uniqueness of people in events, street and within the Chicano and Mexican community. With a background in Criminal Justice, Janet hopes to inspire Youth one day through her photography to pick up a camera and express themselves. 

photographer

Mo, aka dopemo, is a Chicana photographer based in San Diego, whose lens captures the rhythm, resilience, and raw beauty of her community. A proud member & co-founder of 619GURLZ, Mo began her creative journey as an event curator in 2013 and later a DJ in 2016, where she honed her ability to feel and translate emotion into experience. That same intuition has guided her photography—where every frame tells a story grounded in culture, identity, and lived truth.

Rooted in her heritage and shaped by her surroundings, Mo uses photography as a way to document everyday life with intention and heart. From intimate portraits to street scenes pulsing with life, her work reflects a deep love for her people and a commitment to preserving moments often overlooked. Through her evolving artistic practice, Mo continues to uplift voices, create visual archives, andhighlight the beauty of being Chicana.

photographer

Jeff Valenzuela is a transborder photographer, musician, educator, and organizer based in the occupied Kumeyaay territory known as San Diego / Tijuana. As an organizer, he has worked with various local grassroots collectives in Los Angeles, San Diego, and throughout Mexico in solidarity with migrants and displaced communities throughout Latin America. This has included accompanying migrant caravans traveling through Mexico to the U.S. border, supporting organizing efforts by migrants in detention throughout the U.S., and organizing campaigns with migrant communities against the abuse of power by police and immigration authorities in Tijuana, Mexico. 

His photography work has largely focused on documenting these struggles and the organizing work he has been involved in. By using photography as a means to disrupt existing narratives and challenge the constant victimization of migrants and refugees, he works to elevate the voices and stories of those who fight for justice. His work has been featured in exhibitions in Tijuana, San Diego, and San Francisco.

photographer

Cassandra Ceron (Georgia, 1998), researcher, photographer and ceramist. She studied at Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo; Environmental Geology Engineering. Her curiosity to understand  the origin of materials found on the Earth's surface, led her to connect with photography; documenting the current geological landscape. Her lines of research arise from the observation of natural formations. Pursuing her interest in the transformation she collects rocks and minerals to create ceramic pieces representative of her interactions with the space, usually related to personal experiences, conversations with people who inhabit the territory and / or reflections that arise from the interaction with the nature of the site. She currently resides in the city of Tijuana, Baja California and works as a photography teacher in San Diego.

photographer

I’m a self-taught multidisciplinary artist born and raised on the Tijuana/San Ysidro border. My practice spans raw photography, sculptural work, and immersive mixed-media installations. From an early age, I found myself drawn to the vibrant collision of cultures, colors, and narratives that define our borderland. That energy inspired me to Dream, Mold , and Execute my creative voice unbound by formal training or institutional walls.

My work is guided by a single driven force: To capture the raw energy in women. Women’s energy holds immense power. 

In my sculptures and installations there is layering of textures such as local sounds, scents, and natural materials found by our border.   I realized that combining photography with three dimensional forms allowed me to create multi sensory experiences that resonate long after the viewer leaves the gallery. Femininity, authenticity and my culture is where I stand. 

photographer

Jesse Maria Gomez-Villeda (1992-), also known as Chata, is a San Diego-born and raised, multi-generational artist specializing in photography. Chata’s work is deeply rooted in her community and the rich cultural heritage of her upbringing. By trade she is a local 229 journeyman ironworker that specializes in structural welding but, her true passion lies in photography and education. Her art reflects the personal and collective journeys of the individuals she encounters, offering a powerful narrative that celebrates the complexities of identity, belonging, and cultural preservation. Chata’s photography explores the resilience, pride, and beauty of her community, capturing moments that speak to both the individual and the broader social experience. She uses her lens to document the intricacies of life, providing a voice to those often overlooked while emphasizing the importance of self-expression. Through her images, she engages in ongoing conversations about the cultural significance of her roots, the act of preserving heritage, and the unyielding pursuit of belonging. “My work as a photographer is deeply informed by the complexity of identity, memory, and place. I have long navigated intersecting cultural worlds. These early experiences taught me that identity is not fixed, but layered, fluid, and deeply historical. Photography became my tool for exploring these layers. Through the lens, I seek to capture the subtle presence of memory in landscape, the resilience in familial and communal rituals, and the quiet power of everyday life”. -Jesse Maria N. Gomez-Villeda (Chata)

photographer

Adriana Rosa is a San Diego born, Chicana and Boricua, multidisciplinary artist whose work spans within the beauty world, set design, event production, and photography. Deeply shaped by her queer identity and community, Adriana approaches photography as a way to honor resilience, beauty, and the multiplicity of individual identity. Her lens is both personal and political, it seeks to celebrate the nuances of culture, queerness, and community while challenging traditional notions of beauty and representation.

Rooted in her city and culture, Adriana’s work often reflects the textures and spirit of San Diego while centering voices and stories that deserve to be seen. Through her practice, she aims to create imagery that uplifts, empowers, and offers new ways of seeing ourselves and each other. 

photographer

Checka is a Mexican–Sicilian analog photographer based in San Diego, Califas. Her work is rooted in storytelling, cultural memory, and preservation, drawing from her heritage and the landscapes that shaped her. Working with film, she creates images that honor her ancestors while celebrating her city.

Her photography moves between portraiture, street style, and documentary, exploring identity, legacy, and place. Guided by intuition and care, her images hold everyday moments with tenderness, preserving the histories that live within them.

Through her lens, Checka makes space for community, culture, and continuity. In a city that’s always shifting, she captures the people, places, subcultures, and moments that remind us of where we come from and how we grow.

curator/photographer

Fedella Lizeth is a Queer, Nicaraguan and Italian photographer, curator, and teaching artist born and raised in San Diego, California. Her perspectives within her photographic work showcase her fascination with the true authenticity of everyday life, community, and multicultural perspectives and influences in what is one of the country’s most significant cities neighboring the U.S./Mex. border.  In April 2025, she debuted her first solo exhibition with Woo Contemporary in Barrio Logan, the very neighborhood that housed a lot of her early work. She has also been interviewed multiple times with publishers such as San Diego Union Tribune (2023), ABC 10 in (2022), as well as Uptown News, Malflora Collective, All For Logan, and the San Diego Voyager. She first published her work with Bob Dominguez in 2020, who created the contemporary archival book, La Tierra Mia, documenting the revolutionary timeline of the construction and preservation of Chicano Park. Now, she is a teaching artist for marginalized youth throughout San Diego county, sharing with them the importance of using photography as a tool for resistance against colonial systems and oppression.  Her passion in documenting her culture, community, and her compassion for the hoods that raised her have created a deep sense of pride and adoration for her city. With a camera in hand, she aims to document aspects of local culture typically in marginalized communities that often go unrecognized in mainstream media.

curator/photographer

In 1989, Patricio moved from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to become the Visual Arts Curator at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego.

In New Mexico, he worked in various capacities in the arts, including as Program Director for the New Mexico Art Division, Artist in Residence Program Coordinator, and Minority Field Coordinator, increasing the participation of people of color in all NMAD programs.

Patricio was Director of the ASA Gallery at the University of New Mexico, worked for the Very Special Arts Program NM, Editor of the Literary Arts Magazine Conceptions Southwest, and On-Air Traffic Director and DJ at KUNM-FM and is still a member of the Raices Radio Collective at KUNM.

Patricio received his undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico, with an emphasis on Chicano Studies, Art/Photography, and Art/Photo History, and his Masters in Fine Arts from UC San Diego as a San Diego Fellow.

As Centro Curator in addition to 5-6 exhibitions in house exhibitions, he curated several exhibitions that toured Nationally and Internationally including La Frontera, Art About the U.S. Mexico Border, and La Reconquista for the Istanbul, Biennale.

As an artist, Patricio has exhibited his work locally, nationally, and internationally. He focuses on the intersection of culture, politics, and society and the Chicano Experience in the border region. He was a participating artist in the Border Sutures Project.

Patricio teaches or has taught Photography, Chicano Art, Photo History, and Art History at various Community Colleges, including Diné College, San Diego Mesa College, City College, Grossmont College, and Palomar College. He also taught at the University of San Diego and the UCSD Extension Program. He is interested in education, community, popular culture, visual literacy, the evolution of photographic technology, and visual culture related to social justice, self-expression, identity, and power, especially that of the Indigenous and Chicano Communities. His artwork examines personal and social history and the social and political landscape of the Southwest and the U. S. Mexico Border Region.