Luis C. Garza, Eyes of the Chicano Movement, Gets His Due
A photojournalist and photographer who chronicled the Chicano movement is the subject of several career retrospectives making their way through Texas, including an exhibition at Houston’s Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts (MECA)
During a time of extreme racial animus toward Latinos in America framed as border security, it’s worth remembering that we have been here before. One man who chronicled the Chicano movement in the 1960’s and 70’s is photojournalist and photographer Luis C. Garza, whose stark black and white images captured the humanity and the fire of the people who fought back against discrimination.
Garza’s work is an impeccable record of an important moment in time, but it was largely forgotten until recently. Now at 82, he is the subject of several career retrospectives making their way through Texas, including a short subject documentary (Razón de Ser), a book of his photographs called The Other Side of Memory, and an exhibition at Houston’s Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts (MECA) through March 31.
“We are presenting a curated selection of images that have been traveling across the U.S.,” says MECA Gallery Director Lizbeth Ortiz. “One of the challenges was ensuring the integrity of the artist’s original vision, maintaining the pairings he intended while also creating a cohesive narrative that tells a fluid story of the events captured. Balancing these elements to provide an engaging experience for the viewer required careful planning, but the result is a powerful exhibition.”
On the phone, Garza is soft-spoken and joyful. Years of travel have erased any hint of the South Bronx where he grew up in his voice, and the recent attention has invigorated him. For Garza, photography has always been a spiritual practice, something that captures moments not just in space/time but also in human meaning.
The photo that stood out the most for me in this recent collection is called “East 139th Street.” The vast majority of Garza’s work is people in action, marching for their rights or otherwise moving in their spaces. He specializes in portraiture, but this one is devoid of visible life. Instead, a toy horse sits abandoned on a city street, flanked by cars and empty windows.
There are people in the photo; they just aren’t visible. It’s a strange pocket of emptiness that pulses with children’s play momentarily suspended and lived-in space that’s turned temporarily liminal. Even when he’s not looking photography subjects in the eye, Garza gets the human soul in the shot.
That’s the street I was born on,” he says. “That was one of my first photographic images when I went back to the neighborhood. I came across the little horse in front of the building. That first-floor window was where I looked out on the street. It’s a very sensory moment as I traveled through time. Each photograph is a time capsule. The loneliness and the desolation of the neighborhood on the ragged edge, but there is [warmth] and joy in the photo That’s the emotion I tried to capture. “
Garza’s work in the Chicano movement codifies this period for future generations. Latinos and Latinas from across the country began marching and demonstrating against poor wages in the agricultural industry, widespread cultural erasure, and targeted violence from racists.
In Texas, the movement involved school walkouts and militarization similar to the Black Panthers, who the movement had a symbiotic relationship with. What started as pushback against specific bigotries became a movement of identity, establishing Mexican-Americans as people of the land as much as their white brethren.
This is a fight that is still going on in 2025, and that makes it the perfect moment to contextualize the struggle through the lens of Garza.
“Through our partnership with Melissa Richardson Banks, we are able to present his work to the Houston community, particularly the East End, where his photos resonate deeply,” says Ortiz. “Garza’s work is crucial not only for its historical significance but also for its relevance today. In a time when conversations around social justice and cultural identity are more important than ever, exhibiting his work allows MECA to engage the community in meaningful discussions that empower and uplift it.”
Garza himself hopes to be a mentor and inspiration to current activists as his heroes were for him.
“I think people relate to the historical content of the imagery without creating time barriers,” he says. “The ability to capture lives through time is the power of photography. There is always the backstory to a particular image. As you begin to narrate the backstory, it gives it a greater credibility, substance, and understanding.”
“Create your own footsteps,” he advises. “Use my work and others that you relate to, to get a sense of technical and the emotional and the spiritual. It’s only through the discipline of training that you become a craftsperson in your field. That’s what happened to me.”
The Other Side of Memory is available now. Garza’s photographs can be viewed in Houston at MECA through March 31.
