On Making Sense of Histories, Symbols & Possibilities
William Camargo

My practice addresses issues of gentrification, identity, Chicanx/Latinx histories, and the systemic erasure of Brown people with counter-narratives that amplify local perspectives.

Through photography, installation, performance, community archiving, and my role as an arts-based educator, I negotiate the legacies and disempowerment of Brown people. I respond to found archives with series-based artworks and strategies that address geographic place.

With hyperlocal histories, legacies, and contemporary news stories, I confront and challenge social constructs rooted in racist policies and ideologies.

William Camargo is a photo-based artist, educator and arts advocate. He received his MFA at Claremont Graduate University and his BFA at the California State University, Fullerton.

His work has been featured at venues such as Chicago Cultural Center (Chicago, IL), Loisaida Center (New York, NY), University of Indianapolis (Indianapolis, IN), Mexican Cultural Center and Cinematic Arts (Los Angeles, CA), and The Ethelber Cooper Gallery of African and African American Arts at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA). His work has been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Guardian, The New York Times, OC Weekly, TIME, and others.

He was awarded residencies at the Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions (ACRE), the Chicago Artist Coalition, Project Art, and at Otis School of Art and Design’s LA Summer Program, and the 2020 Lenscratch Student Prize. He is currently the artist in residence at the Latinx Project at NYU, serving as Commissioner of Heritage and Culture for the City of Anaheim, and the founder and curator of Latinx Diaspora Archives. He works and lives in Anaheim, CA.