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Title
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Tio Gregorio and Tia Luisa
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Description
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Vargas began calling herself a photographer in 1971. She had intended to be a painter, but photography felt more real. Why? For Vargas, living through and, at times, participating in some of the most important events of the 20th century–the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the Chicano movement, the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the AIDS epidemic–felt urgent. These realities influenced her artwork even after her photography was no longer documentary. Vargas began by taking pictures of the familiar, such as her family Tio Gregorio and Tia Luisa. She notes, “I was told they fought like cats and dogs; I wouldn’t know. They wanted to hold hands for the picture. Well, so much for documentary reality.” This photograph was created around 1975 using an Olympus camera. The image shows her mother’s uncle and aunt, Gregorio and Luisa Soriano, standing in front of their ranch fence located on the outskirts of San Antonio. At the time, the couple was retired. The maternal side of the family was close, and the artist grew up playing with their children. Gelatin silver print. Dimensions: 8 ⅛” x 6 ⅜”
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Image
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https://artist-encuentro.elevator.umn.edu/fileManager/bestDerivativeByFileId/6a8c58788aeffac19a00de7c
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Collection
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Summer 2026
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Access Rights
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© 1975, Kathy Vargas. This image may not be reproduced for commercial purposes without the written consent of the artist. The image may be used for educational personal individual uses and with credit to the artist.
