Miyo Stevens-Gandara, Evergreen, 2021
Miyo Stevens-Gandara, Evergreen, 2021
Miyo Stevens-Gandara
Evergreen, 2021
Serigraph
Edition of 75
22 x 30 in.
My print for the 48th Self Help Graphics & Art Día de los Muertos exhibition is titled "Evergreen", and depicts Evergreen Cemetery located in Boyle Heights at dusk. Dating from 1877, this cemetery is the oldest non-denominational cemetery in Los Angeles and is the location of some of the early Self Help Graphics & Art Día de los Muertos celebrations. I chose this location for several reasons: to acknowledge the important history of Self Help Graphics & Art, as a symbol of the multiethnic identity of Los Angeles, and also because of my own family history, as I have a great aunt Yukiko "Yuki" Nakamura buried there. There are other things that I was thinking about too- the "potter's field" located in Evergreen where unidentified people are cremated and buried in a single grave, the remains of the 174 Chinese people discovered while excavating the Gold Line, the ever-changing neighborhood surrounding the cemetery, and the natural tendency of the grounds within the cemetery to be dry and brown despite its name. I love this place, just as I do this city, for all its layered and complicated history and the stories it can tell us.
Miyo Stevens-Gandara is a Los Angeles based artist working in a variety of media which include photography, drawing, embroidery, and various printmaking mediums. Her imagery explores issues of ancestry, migration, feminism, cultural identity, and environmental degradation.
She received her BFA from the California College of the Arts, and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Miyo Stevens-Gandara has in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA) Riverside Art Museums, and various private collections. Her work has been exhibited in the U.S. and internationally.
Miyo has a strong commitment to her community as part of her art practice and has been involved in nonprofit arts outreach programs throughout her career. She currently teaches photography at Rio Hondo College.