William Camargo
2024 Aurora + Herron Residency
August 12-23, 2024



 
 

2024 Aurora + Herron Resident William Camargo will work on his series, A Little Brown Interference, during his two weeks in Indianapolis. In A Little Brown Interference, the artist writes, “I address issues of gentrification, Chicanx/Latinx histories in a city, and the systemic erasure of Brown people through counter-narratives that amplify and extirpate hegemonic structures within city narratives and photographic art history.” During his residency, Camargo plans to make new images with a 4 x 5 camera, then develop and print those images in the Herron School of Art darkrooms.

About the series, A Little Brown Interference, Camargo continues:

A Little Brown Interference has three sections; the first one, started back in 2019, consist of the idea of how media looks at brown bodies — usually cholos (gang members), Hispanics in poverty, or the characters that get out of the hood to forget their culture. Using temporary tattoos, I embody this notion of becoming these media stereotypes by applying and displaying the tattoos that are usually under the prison tab on the website. The second section simply interferes with my brown arm in the landscape, paying homage to photographers who do conceptual work, including John Divola and Duane Michals, and so on. The slight difference in my hand, consumed with tattoos, directs viewers to the fact that this landscape has a brown occupant. Finally, the last section touches on ideas of surveillance, exclusion, housing crisis, and so on, in which I attempt to cover and or disrupt solar paneled security cameras that are usually located in predominantly brown spaces, i.e., Lowes, Home Depots, CVS, and local public parks in majority brown cities. In some of the work, the attempt is to disrupt fences around spaces that have become or will become luxury housing. The spaces where once houseless folks used to sleep are now becoming spaces they will never be able to afford, and neighborhoods will slowly change. The brown body becomes a vessel for this photographic practice that comments, intervenes, and disrupts how we look at land, space, and photographic history.

William Camargo is a photo-based artist and educator born and raised in Anaheim, California. He is a photography lecturer at the University of California San Diego and Cal State Fullerton. He attained his MFA from Claremont Graduate University, a BFA from Cal State Fullerton, and an AA at Fullerton Community College. William is the founder and curator of Latinx Diaspora Archives, an archive Instagram page that elevates communities of color through family photos. He uses photography, installation, public interventions, and archives to address gentrification, police violence, and Chicanx/Latinx histories. William has had residencies at the Latinx Project at NYU, Light Work in Syracuse, NY,  TILT Institute for Contemporary Image in Philadelphia, the Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY, and Penumbra Foundation, NYC. William's work has been exhibited and published internationally, including at The Cheech Center for Chicano Art, Frost Museum of Art, and Princeton Museum of Art. His works are in held several public and private collections, including the Huntington Library, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Los Angeles Museum of Art.

The Aurora + Herron Residency would not be possible without the following partnerships.

Herron School of Art + Design will supply darkroom access, basic chemistry, and onsite support during the residency. Aurora PhotoCenter thanks Herron School of Art + Design for its generous support of this residency.

Tube Factory Artspace will donate lodging for this residency in their artist bed and breakfast located on Cruft Street in the Garfield Park area of Indianapolis. Aurora PhotoCenter thanks Tube Factory Artspace for its generous support of this residency.