
Laura Aguilar: A Case Study
Laura Aguilar (1959-2018) was a predominantly self-taught photographer who photographed marginalized subjects including herself—Chicanas, lesbians, obese women. She consciously moved away from heteronormative images of Chicana female bodies and their associations with male-centered nostalgias or idealizations and opens up “social spaces” for women of color and projects Chicana feminist aesthetics.(1) Aguilar documented her subjects with frank empathy and humanism. She was