Mexican Reynaldo Rivera portrayed LGBT+ and Latino Los Angeles

The work of Mexican photographer Reynaldo Rivera (1964) is historic. He used intimacy to, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, portray a Los Angeles he lived in and knew: a world of cheap rent, house parties, subversive fashion, underground bands and a handful of Latin LGBT bars: Mugi’s, The Silverlake Lounge and La Plaza. All of this gathered in the recent book “Provisional Notes for a Disappeared City”.

Most of these bars have been closed for a long time and many of the artists have died. But in Rivera’s photos, these men and women live in a silvery landscape of improvised, old-style cinematic glamour, a fabulous escape from unacceptable reality.

As a teenager, Rivera took refuge in bookstores and thrift stores, where she discovered old photo albums of Mexican film stars and the work of Lisette Model, Brassai and Bresson. Inspired, he bought a camera and began photographing people in his hotel. In 1981 he moved to Echo Park and began taking photos for LA Weekly.

This book is a collection of nearly 200 images selected by Hedi El Kholti and Lauren Mackler spanning more than two decades in Los Angeles and Mexico. The book also includes Luis Bauz’s story, “Tatiana,” about one of the themes in these photographs; a critical essay on Rivera’s work by Chris Kraus; and a long conversation between Rivera and his friend and contemporary Vaginal Davis about their lives, work, fantasies and stories.

By Ezatamentchy