Image credit: Josiah O’Balles, The Struggle is Real, 2023

Self Help Graphics & Art is proud to present Battle of the Saints, an exhibition curated by Natalie Godinez and Lulu Urdiales, opening Thursday, March 7, 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Long Beach City College Art Gallery. The exhibition will be on view through April 27, 2024. Battle of the Saints highlights the everyday icons worshiped across cultures. Their images and likeness have become so ubiquitous that they appear in our daily lives, from billboards to candles, key chains, murals, t-shirts, toys, and more throughout our world. Revered figures like wrestlers, saints, gods, artists, political activists, and athletes are just a few of the cultural icons whose likeness instills a profound sense of community.

The artists in the exhibition have all used iconography as a powerful storytelling tool. Some subvert the image of cultural and religious icons, while others elevate an everyday hero into holy figures by appropriating symbolism from religious depictions of saints, including the Virgen de Guadalupe. Additionally, some artists bring attention to influential figures through unique and innovative perspectives, such as elevating the luchador as a Saint symbolizing Chicano Power or showcasing La Virgen as an immigrant receiving her Green card.  

In a symbolic “Battle of the Saints,” we playfully bestow a sense of “sainthood” upon pop culture icons while revisiting traditional religious symbols and figures in a contemporary context. The exhibition acknowledges these characters’ elevated status within immigrant communities as symbols of hope, empowerment, and cultural connections to the motherland.

This group show will highlight prints from the Self Help Graphics Professional Print Studio, including artists Alma Lopez, Alfredo de Batuc, Delilah Montoya, Frank Ybarra, Isabel Martinez, Jose Roberto Barrero, Yreina Cervantez, Victor Gastelum and Chaz Bojorquez, and Joseph “Nuke” Montalvo, alongside local artists in Los Angeles and Long Beach, including Adriana Carranza of Kalli Arte Collective, Aneesa Shami Zizzo, April Bey, Carolyn Castaño, Cultivarte Studios, Dewey Tafoya, Ernesto Vazquez, Jacqueline Valenzuela, Jose M. Loza, Josiah O’Balles, Las Chicas Peligrosas, Mike Alcala, Nao Bustamante, and Sayon Syprasoeuth.

About Self Help Graphics & Art

Self Help Graphics & Art fosters the creation and advancement of new art works by Chicana/o and Latinx artists through experimental and innovative printmaking techniques and other visual art forms. We are an organization rooted in community; and since 1973, have been at the intersection of arts and social justice, providing a home that fosters the creativity and development of local artists. We establish international collaborations and partnerships nation-wide and create world-wide cultural exchanges.