If you weren't able to make it to the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton for the opening reception of Don Normark: A Retrospective last month, another gallery tour event awaits you tomorrow night. Normark, as faithful readers will recall, is an acclaimed photographer whose work spans from snapping shots of the close knit neighborhoods of Chavez Ravine before eviction cleared the way to construct a stadium for the Doyers to the more recent South Central Farm saga.
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As this Sunday, the 20th anniversary of the 1992 L.A. Riots, saw many “riot reflections,” the genesis of the community garden is central to a narrative that didn't get much play — you know, like neighbors helping neighbors douse out flames, Parker Center protests and a historic gang truce.
Out of the ashes of the fires of civil unrest in 1992 arose the urban oasis on the corner of 41st and Alameda in South Central. Normark was there documenting the farm in pictures as an eviction was eventually carried out in 2006 bulldozing the lush greenery surrounded on all corners by cold, industrial concrete.
Filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy also captured the story in The Garden, an Academy Award-nominated documentary. Normark's photo of farmer Catarina Lopez posing with corn leaves was featured prominently for promotional purposes of the film, so the two make perfect partners for the evening. The Garden will be screened for free at 'The Muck' alongside a gallery tour by curator Matt Leslie.
The evening will also feature Rufina Juarez, a community activist and farmer who helped organize the effort to save the South Central Farm. She will be on hand to speak about the film and her experiences as protagonist for the story it tells.
The Garden screens tomorrow at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 West Malvern Avenue, Fullerton, 7 p.m. FREE.
Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!