Celebrate/Demonstrate

Featuring compelling images of festivals and political rallies, this exhibition highlights the extraordinary cultural diversity of the greater Los Angeles area. 

California-based photographer Bendat has documented community events in Southern California and throughout the world for several decades. Her photographs offer visitors an intimate view of three kinds of annual celebrations held in and around Los Angeles: a late-October fiesta for the Guatemalan folk saint San Simón, mid-January Orthodox Ethiopian Timket (Epiphany) festivities, and the mid-April Cambodian New Year or Chaul Chnam Thmey. These images illustrate the ways in which immigrants maintain homeland traditions in the United States and express their ethnic and cultural identity. 

Focusing more on activism, Bendat also has created a Legalize L.A. series emphasizing how diverse groups citywide have collectively demonstrated dignity and unity in their struggle for immigration reform.

Exhibition overview from the museum website