YOU ARE HERE – Tovaangar / El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula / Los Angeles

Maker Sandy Rodriguez (American, born 1975)

Additional Title(s)

You are Here / Tovangaar / El Pueblo de nuestra señora la reina de porciúncula / Los Angeles
Dedicated to colleague, friend and Tongva elder, Julia Bogany. Rest in Power

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Date2021

MediumHand-processed watercolor and 23K gold on amate paper

Dimensionseach panel: 94 1/2 × 47 in. (240 × 119.4 cm.) overall: 94 1/2 × 94 in. (240 × 238.8 cm.) 6 × 53 1/2 × 105 in. (15.2 × 135.9 × 266.7 cm.)

DescriptionYOU ARE HERE, a map of Los Angeles, uses evocative representation of topography, language, and land-use over time to make visible the movement of peoples that have and continue to call this place home. Similar to the way people use wayfinding maps, viewers encounter YOU ARE HERE in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art after passing through a selection of native plants carefully curated for their medicinal and colorants of the Americas. The visitor is invited to pause, look, and locate destinations and personal histories in a monumental multilingual map of our city. Native plants, animals, a sacred oak as a cosmic tree with the cardinal directions intermingle with reference to uprisings amid past epidemics in Los Angeles under a rainbow presenting a view of our past, present, and future ahead. YOU ARE HERE is firmly rooted in research about Los Angeles - its communities, history, maps, primary documents - while leveraging diverse intergenerational relationships with scholars and historians, including the late Tongva elder, Julia Bogany.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and the estate of George and Nancy Parsons.

Status

On view

Label TextYOU ARE HERE, a map of Los Angeles, uses an evocative representation of topography, language, and land use over time to make visible the movement and histories of the peoples who have long called this place home. Native plants, animals, and a sacred oak as cosmic tree orienting the cardinal directions intermingle with references to uprisings amid past epidemics in Los Angeles, under a rainbow presenting a view of our past, present, and hope for the future. Viewers are invited to pause and locate places and personal histories within this monumental, multilingual map of our city.
Rodriguez’s style is informed by a number of sources, including early colonial painted
manuscripts from Mexico. YOU ARE HERE is firmly rooted in research about Los Angeles—its communities, history, maps, and primary documents—while leveraging
varied intergenerational relationships with scholars and historians, including the late Tongva elder Julia Bogany.

Bibliography

Black Earth Rising

Object number2023.3