Mother Vickie

Undated black and white photograph of three people including a woman holding a cat, a man with a hat on, and a young girl. The words “Mother Vickie” are written above the woman holding the cat. This photograph was taken in the 1910s in Chavez Ravine and features the maternal great grandmother and grandmother of Max Benavidez who donated for use in the LA History Archive.

I chose this object because it is beautiful, it features poorer Mexican Americans in a contested community – Chavez Ravine. I also chose this because of the cat. This photograph as well as other family ephemera became the basis of Max Benavidez’s poem “Durango” which the Studio developed into an art installation. -Sharon Sekhon

The Studio for Southern California History

Provenance: Digital copy donated by Max Benavidez in 2006.

circa 1910

Please contact thesocalstudio@gmail.com for permission to use images.