César E. Chávez exhibit on March 27 highlights a lifetime of capturing the Latino perspective

Photojournalist Jess Gutierrez joins with artist Xico González to present César E. Chávez, UFW exhibit at CSU Channel Islands

Amigos805 staff report

If there was a big gathering of Latinos, Chicanos, farmworkers, community activists and others in the 805 region, chances were photojournalist Jess Gutierrez wouldn’t be too far from the action.

With his trusty camera, Gutierrez could be found documenting Latino life in the region, covering everything from El Concilio Family Services’ annual Latino Leadership Awards to protest marches featuring César E. Chávez.

To honor legacy of Chávez, Gutierrez will join artist Xico González to present an exhibit featuring images of César E. Chávez and other leaders from the United Farm Workers union on Wednesday, March 27 at CSU Channel Islands.

The exhibit opens at 5 p.m. at the Broome Library, 1320 Exhibition Hall, followed by a panel discussion moderated by CSUCI Professor Dr. Jose Alamillo and a reception at 7 p.m.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union, will be the guest speaker. Click here to RSVP.

Titled “A Legacy of Service,” the exhibit captures what César E. Chávez was about: a fighter for human dignity and justice for all working people, Gutierrez said. There are images in the exhibit of him talking to farm workers at Buena Vista Labor Camp in Oxnard, one of the largest camps in the U.S. at the time, housing up to 5,000 braceros.

“I never imagined my photography exhibited at CSU Channel Islands,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a photographer’s dream, for his work to be appreciated and valued, especially when it happens in your own community and is displayed by an institution of higher learning.”

Gutierrez said his own family’s history was closely tied to the movement led by Chávez.

“Having worked as a teen in Oxnard fields for a dollar an hour or less, with no overtime pay, potable water or restroom facilities, I agreed with Chávez when he spoke to farm workers about their right for better working conditions, higher wages and not being afraid to speak their minds,” Gutierrez stated in a media release. “He was saying what most of us were afraid to say a decade before.”

Gutierrez’s family relocated in 1961 from East Los Angeles to Oxnard, where the family labored as field workers. He remembers picking tomatoes, green beans, chilies and using the eventually-banned short handled hoe (el cortito), working alongside braceros from local labor camps during his freshman and sophomore summer breaks from Oxnard High School.

By 1972, Gutierrez was president of MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) at Moorpark Community College, a group that presented Cinco de Mayo celebrations that featured speakers like Chávez and Luis Valdez, founder of El Teatro Campesino.

In 1973, Gutierrez became a photographer for La Colonia Youth Services Project and started documenting the United Farm Workers when they held their marches, rallies and boycotts in the region. The LCYSP office was located across the street from the county’s United Farm Workers Colonia office, he said.

Chávez, who at one time lived in La Colonia, visited Ventura County many times, participating in the marches that often ended with a rally at Colonia Park. Over the years, Gutierrez covered the farmworker movement and included information in his bi-weekly column “Minority View” in the Ventura County Star-Free Press from 1977 to 1983.

Gutierrez said he also interviewed Chávez for an article in Lowrider Magazine about Chávez’s teenage years growing up in Delano, cruising in the family’s 1940 Chevy and looking “cool” in his zoot suit.

In 2001, as a substitute teacher at his alma mater and MEChA Club co-advisor, Gutierrez said he wrote for a $10,000 grant for the states’ first César E. Chávez Day of Service and Learning program to promote service to communities in honor of the life and work of César E. Chávez.

Oxnard High School was the only county school funded for the grant, he said.

“I didn’t know at the time my images and stories about Chávez would become historical decades later,” Gutierrez said. “I enjoyed the excitement and passion of the large crowds supporting Chávez and the farm worker struggle. I’m proud of being part of that history and documenting it so others do not forget its significance.”

Chávez’s service to others, people of all color and races, is now recognized nationwide, Gutierrez said.

Chávez was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States; the U.S. Navy named a cargo ship after him, USNS Cesar Chavez; and La Paz, the UFW headquarters near Bakersfield, was recently designated the César E. Chávez National Monument by President Obama, he said.

“In Oxnard we now have the César E. Chávez Elementary School, César E. Chávez Drive, and an annual march to honor César E. Chávez on his birthday,” Gutierrez said. “Chavez’s fight for justice created a movement that transcended small rural communities like Oxnard to large urban cities and across the nation, inspiring multitudes with the spirit of ‘Si Se Puede’ that President Obama adopted in his first presidential campaign – ‘Yes We Can.’ ”

Gutierrez is also celebrating his 40th year in photography.

“My photography is a personal journey of my Latino culture and activism; it’s very personal and public at the same time,” he said. “I photograph people in their most private and public moments and these images will last a lifetime, and some become historical.”

Gutierrez said his image collection numbers in the thousands and includes images about culture, religion, entertainment,  music, cultural and political events, Latino leaders and everyday people, custom lowrider cars, teenagers (now their 40s and 50s).

He also said this is the first of several photography exhibitions he will present throughout 2013. Others are scheduled for Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Paula.

His work has been previously exhibited at the Bell Arts Factory in Ventura, Cafe on A’s Rudy F. Acuña Gallery and Cultural Arts Center, the Carnegie Art Museum, the Mexican Consulate and ¿Tomas Café?, all in Oxnard.

His work has also appeared in El Informador, El Sol, VIDA Newspaper and Amigos805. Gutierrez was the founder and publisher/editor of GENTE Magazine from 1981 to 1985 and published Latino Life Style in 2004.

For information on “César E. Chávez: A Legacy of Service,” contact CSUCI Professor Frank Barajas at frank.barajas@csuci.edu or 805-437-8862.