This fall semester, LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (BCLA) students in the course “Race and Ethnicity in Journalism” are examining American journalism and the ways in which the practice and consumption of journalism can function to produce or reiterate ideas about race and ethnicity. As part of the course, students visited the exhibition “Seeing Chicanx: The Durón Family Collection” at LMU’s Laband Art Gallery.
Drawn from the private collection of BCLA alumni couple Armando Durón ’76 (political science) and Mary Salinas Durón ’75 (economics and Spanish), the exhibition is curated by Karen Mary Davalos, a leading Chicana/o/x art historian and professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Davalos previously taught in BCLA’s Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies program from 1997 to 2016.
The exhibit not only highlights the evolution of the Chicanx art scene in Los Angeles from the 1970s to the present, but also offers a vivid reflection of what it has meant to live in Los Angeles as a Chicanx person during this period.
Julia Lee, professor of English, teaches the course and reflected on the parallels between art and journalism. “Much like journalism, art can be used as propaganda to promote a biased perspective, or it can be used as a form of resistance. I think the Durón exhibit is fantastic because it shows how Chicanx artists use their art to resist, to dispel stereotypes, and to express themselves in unexpected ways,” she said. “Some of the pieces are deeply satirical, which I thought was great.”
For Lee and the students, the pieces in the exhibit offered a vivid, visual extension of the ideas they had been discussing in class. “We look at mainstream media and explore how a story’s framing—its language, sourcing, whether it’s parachute journalism—can reveal bias,” Lee explained.
Students also study ethnic and community-based journalism, including outlets like L.A. Taco and various Indigenous news sources, to understand how these organizations challenge stereotypical depictions in the media. For emerging journalists, the course emphasizes developing strong critical thinking skills; learning to analyze the many forms of media they encounter and be mindful of avoiding such stereotypes in their own work.
“We have talked a lot about marginalized communities and the different challenges these communities have faced, past and present,” said Abby Alexander ’27, a double-major in journalism and English. “The Tony de los Reyes painting Border Theory, which depicts a border marked by a bold red splotch cutting through and beyond it, was especially moving given the current political climate surrounding immigration. You can read about these issues or discuss them in class, but seeing them expressed through a photograph or painting is a completely different experience.”
Karen Rapp, director of LMU’s Laband Art Gallery, led Lee and her students on a tour of the exhibition. The works on display are diverse and contemporary, created by artists over the last few decades and presented in a range of media. Many pieces are tongue-in-cheek, offering pointed commentary.
The exhibition is also deeply connected to LMU’s own history. The Duróns were students here in the 1970s and consider themselves products of the civil rights movement, chroniclers and supporters of their culture, and a couple who has filled their lives with art and is committed to sharing it with others.
“I think that with this particular show, there’s such variety with more than 50 artworks made by almost 50 artists,” said Rapp. “My observation is that the students are really responding to what the artists are bringing up in their work about identity, attitudes toward the body, and social injustices. So it feels like the Durons’ expansive view of Chicanx art is resonating across generations.”
Throughout the semester, Lee has made a point of getting her class of aspiring writers and journalists out of the classroom to engage with resources on campus like the LMU Special Collections and Archives collection of another LMU alum, Harry Honda, in addition to the Durón exhibit at the Laband.
“I really want them to think, wow, these people were just like me, once in their 20s at LMU and trying to figure things out,” said Lee. “It gives them a relatable point of connection, and an opportunity to be reflective about the meaning of that.”
