South Tucson City Hall is the latest stop for a traveling pop-up exhibit highlighting the works of iconic Chicano photographer Louis Carlos Bernal.

One of the most significant American photographers of the 20th century, Bernal was born in Douglas in 1941 and founded the photography program at Pima Community College in 1972. He spent the duration of his career in Tucson, serving as an instructor for the program until 1989, four years before his death.

The pioneering Chicano photographer was among the first to envision his work as art, rather than documentation.

“Louis Carlos Bernal: Retrospectivita Chiquita” is on display at South Tucson City Hall through Friday. It includes a small sampling of images from the larger retrospective on exhibit at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography through March.

The “Retrospectivita Chiquita” pop-up is one of three initiatives of the center’s Bernal Community Advisory Group, which is made up of local gallerists, small business owners and academics.

“The goal with the Bernal Community Advisory Group was to get the images out into the world and tell people about Louis Carlos Bernal and his life and work,”  Lizzy Guevara Golden, a photographic education fellow with the center, told Tucson Spotlight.

The first initiative is a larger pop-up exhibit featuring about 30 images, touring libraries across Southern Arizona.

The library pop-up started in Douglas in August, then traveled to Tucson’s Joel D. Valdez Main Library in October. The next stop was Phoenix’s Burton Barr Central Library, where the pop-up will be on display until January 29.

It will be exhibited at the Yuma Arts Center in late February and in March, will travel to Silver City, New Mexico – all cities connected to Bernal’s life and work.

"He was raised in Phoenix and took images in Yuma and Silver City,” Golden said.

The second initiative is a zine set to be published in the next few months, and the third is the smaller “Retrospectivita Chiquita” pop-ups, the first of which was held in October at Pima Community College West Campus’ Louis Carlos Bernal Art Gallery.

South Tucson’s exhibit opened to the public last Monday.

“The one in South Tucson came about because we wanted a more manageable pop-up that was good for day-of events,” Golden said. “It will be at the Tucson Festival of Books and has been at other events, including Futuro coffee shop in Phoenix.”

With the library exhibits requiring a long-bed truck and three people to help with assembly, the “Chiquita” displays are much easier to set-up, take down and transport.

“We’re really happy that it’s in South Tucson, and it looks really nice,” Golden said. “It’s a wonderful way to get Louis Carlos Bernal’s work into the community.”

The South Tucson display includes eight of Bernal’s images, mostly from his “Espejo” series. It includes a newly printed image from a 2016 art show at Pima Community College that features a Widelux image of a street in Douglas.

The Widelux was a unique film camera that used a swing-lens mechanism to capture panoramic images with a wide field of view by sweeping the lens across the plane, rather than using a traditional shutter.

“It’s a good mix. It’s not so Tucson-focused, but also includes images from Douglas and Lubbock,” Golden said. “It’s a nice sample, so if you don’t get the chance to go to the exhibition or see the book, you’ll at least get a chance to see these beautiful images in our community.”

City hall has experienced an uptick in foot traffic since the pop-up exhibition opened last week, South Tucson’s Community Investment Advisor Selina Barajas told Tucson Spotlight.

“People have come in who have never been to city hall before, and that was my hope,” Barajas said.

Mary Vandeveire, who lives and works in the area and learned about the exhibit through Instagram, stopped by last week.

“It was nice to be able to stop by and see a little bit of the collection of photos by Louis Carlos Bernal, and now I would like to see the full exhibit at the Center for Creative Photography,” she said.

Vandeveire had heard of Bernal’s name, as he’s well-known in Tucson and she’s interested in photography. But the South Tucson pop-up helped her gain an understanding of and appreciation for his work.

“The photographs were beautiful, and just from that exhibit I was able to learn more about the photographer,” she said. “He had a vision as a Mexican American artist, respected the community’s culture and heritage and was instrumental in developing photojournalism in the Southwest.”

Vandeveire said she felt inspired by being able to access this creativity in South Tucson, where she spends most of her workweek.

“We need more of this type of thing, where you’re able to just casually go by and take a quick peek. And the more you learn, the more you want to know,” she said. “I’m seeing a lot of interesting and good things happening in South Tucson that I really like. Once you get to know the community, you get kind of attached to it.”

After its run at city hall, the “Retrospectivita Chiquita” display will be featured at a Sobremesa event at South Tucson’s Galeria Mitotera Saturday with artist Mel Dominguez and Chef Adrian Ortega of Ador Cuisine. The free event, which is at capacity, will explore the connection between art and food with a special menu inspired by Bernal’s photographs. Sobremesa is a Spanish and Latin American custom of continuing meaningful conversations after a meal.

The next “Retrospectivita Chiquita” pop-up is set for February 15 at Hotel Congress, as part of an all-ages Barrio Jam event, featuring music, art and performance.

Bernal’s career began in the early 1970s, in the wake of the Chicano civil rights movement. His work highlighted the strength, spiritual and cultural values, and prolonged family ties that marked the lives of Mexican Americans in Southern Arizona and beyond.

Bernal initially focused his work on the people he met in Tucson’s barrios, where he lived and worked as a teacher. His work eventually took him to small towns across the Southwest, where he photographed people and families or rooms devoid of people that still expressed the “tenor of the lives lived within them,” according to the UA’s website highlighting the exhibit.

South Tucson City Hall is located at 1601 South 6th Avenue and open this week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. It’s open to the public and there's no cost to view the exhibit.

Caitlin Schmidt is Editor and Publisher of Tucson Spotlight. She previously worked for the Arizona Daily Star and has been reporting on Southern Arizona for a decade. Contact her at caitlin@tucsonspotlight.org.

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