Nature Self-Portrait #12

Laura Aguilar, Nature Self-Portrait #12, 1996, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, 2021.27.3, © 2016, Laura Aguilar Trust
Laura Aguilar, Nature Self-Portrait #12, 1996, gelatin silver print, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, 2021.27.3, © 2016, Laura Aguilar Trust

Artwork Details

Title
Nature Self-Portrait #12
Artist
Date
1996
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
16 x 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Copyright
© 2016, Laura Aguilar Trust
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the American Women’s History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Highlights
Subjects
  • Landscape — rocks
  • Latinx
Object Number
2021.27.3
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2021.27.3

Artwork Description

Laura Aguilar's identity as a queer Chicana informed her work as an artist throughout her career. In the Nature Self-Portrait series, Aguilar uses her own nude body as both sculptural object and photographic subject, juxtaposing the soft folds in her flesh with the harsh elements of the natural landscape surrounding her. The duality of her introverted posture and the extroverted vulnerability of her nude body invite the viewer to reconsider conventional notions of beauty and body politics in relation to the female form in art and photography. Aguilar's effortless existence within this landscape also reclaims the American Southwest by a person of Mexican descent for her community. She has said, "My photography has always provided me with an opportunity to open myself up and see the world around me. And most of all, photography makes me look within."   

Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, 2023

Works by this artist (23 items)

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Lamar Baker, Sadist (from Aberrations), 1937, lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift by exchange from The Columbus Museum, Georgia, 1998.115.10
Sadist (from Aberrations)
Artist
Date1937
lithograph
Not on view
Lamar Baker, Reclining Nude, 1942, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift by exchange from The Columbus Museum, Georgia, 1998.115.22
Reclining Nude
Artist
Date1942
lithograph on paper
Not on view
Lamar Baker, The Slave Plant, 1939, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift by exchange from The Columbus Museum, Georgia, 1998.115.14
The Slave Plant
Artist
Date1939
lithograph on paper
Not on view
Lamar Baker, Self-Portrait with Cotton Plant, 1940, lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift by exchange from The Columbus Museum, Georgia, 1998.115.19
Self-Portrait with Cotton Plant
Artist
Date1940
lithograph
Not on view

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Summer Sun
Artist
Date1964
gouache on paper
Not on view
Jacob Lawrence, Community (study for mural, Jamaica, NY), 1986, gouache on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, 1990.36, © 1986, Jacob Lawrence
Community (study for mural, Jamaica, NY)
Artist
Date1986
gouache on paper
Not on view
Hans Moller, "No government ought to be without censors; and where the press is free, no one ever will. If virtuous, it need not fear the fair operation of attack and defense. Nature has given to man no other means of sifting out the truth, either in religion, law, or politics."--Thomas Jefferson, 1792. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man., 1951, gouache on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.218
“No government ought to be without censors; and where the…
Artist
Date1951
gouache on paper mounted on paperboard
Not on view
Douglas Brown, Louis Prima's House, New Orleans, 1937, gouache on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.12
Louis Prima’s House, New Orleans
Artist
Date1937
gouache on paper
Not on view