The two-day conference runs Dec. 5-6 and examines printmaking, activism and border politics in conjunction with a Smithsonian exhibition

A two-day academic conference opening Friday at The Huntington will examine how Chicano printmaking and activism have shaped Southern California identity, drawing scholars and artists from across the country to discuss border politics, social justice movements and the reclamation of overlooked histories.

“Historias Radicales: Latinx Identity and History in Southern California” runs Dec. 5-6 at Rothenberg Hall in San Marino, presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Radical Histories: Chicano Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum,” currently on view at The Huntington through March 2, 2026.

Organized by Diego Godoy, The Huntington’s associate curator of California and Hispanic collections, and Dennis Carr, Virginia Steele Scott chief curator of American Art, the conference will surface materials from The Huntington’s archival collections, including the Lozano Family and La Opinión Collection, the California Farmworker Collection, the Gloria Molina Papers and the Laura Aguilar Collection.

The exhibition features around 60 works by roughly 40 artists and collectives, spanning more than six decades of Chicano printmaking from the civil rights era through contemporary practice. The prints chart how artists developed images of protest and solidarity that helped forge Chicana/o identities across the United States through political activism, cross-cultural solidarity and efforts to reclaim overlooked histories.

The conference will include a performance by Los Jornaleros del Norte, an Altadena-based band regarded as the soundtrack of the immigrant labor movement. The group has performed regularly at immigrant rights marches, rallies and day laborer events in Southern California.

The exhibition also features work from Self Help Graphics & Art, the pioneering East Los Angeles print studio, and includes a commissioned mural by artist Melissa Govea for the exhibition’s West Coast debut.

Historias Radicales: Latinx Identity and History in Southern California will run Friday, Dec. 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 6, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Rothenberg Hall, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. For more information, call (626) 405-2100 or visit https://www.huntington.org/event/historias-radicales-latinx-identity-and-history-southern-california. Ticket prices: $50 general admission, $30 for Society of Fellows, members and readers, free for students and research fellows. Optional lunch available for $20 each day.