A stylish celebration of a half century of Chicanx artists working at the intersection of fashion and printmaking

In the 1970s, Chicanx artists began working in the plentiful and inexpensive medium of paper to blur the boundaries between printmaking and fashion design. Borrowing from Day of the Dead border craftworks as well as other cultural touchstones such as papel picados, piñatas, and decorations, these artists experimented with paper-based fashion designs and screen printing, imbuing their work with a politics of style and socially transformative intent. In print workshops and underground fashion shows, practices leaped from the two-dimensional mesh screen to the three-dimensional dress form through the revival of a dormant trend from the 1960s-paper fashion.

Three thematic sections-fashionista icons and politics, maquillage and mirage, and text and textile-examine the dynamic confluence of paper and fashion in Chicanx cultural production and the ways it has evolved over the past fifty years. Featuring contributions from an interdisciplinary group of scholars, this exciting book considers the deep relationships among printmaking, the body, performance, and self-presentational embodiments to reveal new facets of Chicanx art.

Highlights the work of artists including

¿ Sean Carrillo
¿ Melanie Cervantes
¿ Alex Donis
¿ Richard Duardo
¿ Sandra C. Fernández
¿ Michael Menchaca
¿ Shizu Saldamando
¿ Joey Terrill
¿ Patssi Valdez

And workshops including

¿ Self Help Graphics, Los Angeles
¿ MeChicano Art Center, Los Angeles
¿ La Raza Silkscreen Center, San Francisco
¿ Mission Gráfica, San Francisco

Published in association with Print Center New York

Exhibition Schedule:

Print Center New York
(January 21-May 2027)