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Self Help Graphics & Art

About this Artist

Founded in 1970 in the heart of East Los Angeles, Self Help Graphics & Art is dedicated to the production, interpretation, and distribution of the prints and other media by Chicana/o and Latinx artists. Our multi-disciplinary, inter-generational programs promote artistic excellence and empower our community by providing access to space, tools, training and capital. Self Help Graphics & Art is host to the longest running Dia de los Muertos celebration in the country, with this year marking the organization’s 45th anniversary. 

Joe Galarza is a visual artist and musician who grew up in El Sereno, an area of Los Angeles surrounded with gang violence and much self-hate. He is a painter, muralist, sculptor, musician, instrument maker, and an arts educator. Joe teaches at community centers and correctional facilities with youth and strives to bring resources through the arts that can serve for a better alternative. His goal is to share with them that they can change and endeavor toward self-determination for a better future despite any odds they face. When Joe is not playing the role of teacher, he plays bass for internationally known music group AZTLAN UNDERGROUND, which has toured throughout the United States, Spain, France, Basque country, Mexico, Australia, Venezuela, Canada, and throughout Indian Country, using music as an educational tool to empower community.

Edgar Coronado grew up in a creative family who simply improvised as life happened. As a family, Edgar and his wife Norma have continued to nurture the seeds of creativity for the past several years each October by volunteering with Self Help Graphics & Art in preparation for the annual Dia de los Muertos community event, where they first learned to use papier-maché with William Acedo and Ezria Torres. It is through this experience at Self Help Graphics & Art that they have come to realize that creative expression is an important means to connect to their origins, to nourish their hearts, minds and lives by creating to express that which is meaningful to them and the community.