Aztlán is considered the ancestral home of the Aztecs, and while its actual location is unclear and believed by some to be mythic, it is often associated with what is known as the southwestern United States. Symbolically,  Aztlán represents both the shared origins and aspirations of many in the Chicanx and Latinx communities. Imagery derived from  Mesoamerican cultures like the Aztec and Maya, often appears in the work of artists interested in the complexities of cultural identity. Derived from LACMA’s rich holdings in this area, Children of Aztlán explores how Chicanx, Latinx, and Indigenous artists working from the late 1980s to the present day reinvent historic imagery in their work to celebrate cultural origins, symbols, and community, as well to confront issues of displacement and colonization. 

Many of the works in this grouping were made at Self Help Graphics & Art, a community center and screenprint workshop established in the early 1970s by the Franciscan nun Karen Boccalero to promote cultural pride and creativity in the predominantly Mexican American and Latin American “barrio” in East L.A. Also included are lithographs made at El Nopal Press, founded in 1990 and devoted to the exploration of border issues, and key works from the museum’s departments of Contemporary Art, Photography, and Art of the Ancient Americas. 

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