Stephanie Barajas

📣 Hey family, we need more volunteers for the 3rd Annual San José Cinco de Mayo Cultural Parade & Festival. Please help us spread the word by sharing. 🙏🏽 Sunday, May 3, 2026 Parade: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. (King Rd. from Alum Rock Ave. to Story Rd.) Festival: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. (Emma Prusch Farm Park) 4-hour shifts: morning, afternoon, early evening Includes lunch voucher + limited edition FREE event t-shirt Scan the QR code to register or DM @carmendoza_6928 for the 🔗! 🌸🌸🌸 For questions: 📞: 408-375-1524 📧: [email protected]

Friendiversary 🫂💕Cheers to another 20yrs of friendship & hiking adventures! 🏔️🥂✨

3.23.26 another year, another birthday. I usually get really sad around my birthday because the most insecure parts of me wish that there was someone to plan a special day for me, that someone could plan a big party for me. but why wait when I can do that for myself? slowly but surely, I’m learning to celebrate and nurture myself in the ways I always wanted/needed to be. thank you to those who celebrated with me. may this next solar return help me reach my higher purpose and find my tribe.

For the first time in their life, 25-year-old Peruvian-American artist Luka Fernández is centering the intersection of their cultural and gender identity in their work. Fernández is one of 14 artists featured in “Sinvergüenza,” a group exhibition at Acción Latina’s Juan R. Fuentes Gallery. For Women’s Month, El Tecolote and Acción Latina are celebrating women and nonbinary artists by reclaiming the word sinvergüenza, often used to shame people who live outside prescribed roles. At 18, Fernández began hormone therapy as part of their transition. “I didn’t, in the moment, register this fundamental change in who I am,” they said. One work from their three-piece series “Genesis Androfelino” pays homage to the breasts they once had while challenging rigid ideas of gender. “I had top surgery, so I don’t have breasts anymore,” Fernández said. “But I remember what that was like.” Photographer Stephanie Barajas, 33, is another featured artist. While aspiring to be an actress in Los Angeles, a community of Latino photographers in East L.A. encouraged her to pursue photography. She began experimenting with self-portraiture as a way to reclaim her relationship with her body. “I’ve been fat all of my life, and my experience of being a fat woman has definitely influenced how I see myself,” Barajas said. Her embroidered photographs stitch threads across the images like delicate scars, representing moments when shame once made her feel small or restricted. Follow the link in our bio to read the full story. — Storytelling Pop-Up! When were you a sinvergüenza? Join us for a night of storytelling, poetry and spoken word as our community reclaims the word sinvergüenza. Want to share your story? DM @eltecolotesf or email [email protected] to sign up. Thursday, March 12
5:30–7 p.m. Acción Latina’s Juan R. Fuentes Gallery 2958 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

the last few months #sf #ny #cincy

the last few months #photodump

A Look Thru Your Lens: Episode 104 Artist: @stephroars Film: Fuji Superia 400 Camera: Pentax K1000 ______________________ 1) What motivated you to pick up a camera? • I’ve always like to capture moments but I didn’t always have the ability to do so. Growing up, my family had one point-and-shoot camera but after my brother and I dropped it during one of our family vacations, we no longer had a device to help capture our memories. There’s a long period of my life that was never captured. Now, I try to capture every moment, every memory, every little thing that I may like to remember years later. My camera has also helped pull me out of some of my darkest moments and for that I am forever grateful. It’s my shield, my instrument, and my partner in art. _________________ 2) What were your primary focuses as you captured these images? • For the first roll that I shot for this project, my goal was to get outside of downtown and explore other areas of San José. As someone who’s not from here, there are still many corners left unexplored. Unfortunately, as it happens, all those images were lost. But for this second roll, I didn’t have much of a plan except to carry the camera with me as much as possible so that whenever the inspiration hit, I’d be ready. Capture the San José I know and have grown to love. _______________

Stephanie Barajas   Mending Memories… Aprendí A Coser Para No Olvidar, 2025  film print with embroidery    Stephanie Barajas (born in Guadalajara, Mexico) is a Mexican immigrant residing in San José. She is a multifaceted theatre artist, photographer, and arts advocate. Her photography has been showcased at notable venues such as Art Share L.A., the Oakland Photo Workshop Gallery, Bass & Reiner, the School of Arts & Culture, and MACLA. Additionally, her work has been published in Content Magazine and The Thread Mag. Actively involved in the South Bay arts community, Barajas adeptly balances her creative pursuits with her role as a Program Officer at the Center for Cultural Innovation, where she supports artists through grantmaking initiatives.  MACLA’s 2025 Latinx Art Now! Auction & Exhibition is now on view. The exhibition culminates with our Live Auction, May 17, MACLA’s signature fundraising event.   🎟️ For tickets see link in bio

Back in January, I was a figure model for MACLA’s monthly figure drawing class. It was my first time doing anything like that and it was TERRIFYING but also oh, so REWARDING. For someone who’s been fat all of her life and who’s had to navigate life in a fat body, this experience was so liberating. I grew up believing that something was wrong with me and that I wasn’t deserving of taking up space. But that’s not true. And I’m slowly starting to believe it and to live in that truth. I’m on a mission to push myself outside of my comfort zone, to be in tune with my body, and to say yes to new experiences as much as possible. A HUGE thank you to @alyssarhaye for all the opportunities to create! Deeply grateful for you 🙏🏼💛

I am very excited to have a photo in the @sj.shooters show San Jose in Motion at @foxtalefermentationproject !!! I’ve been trying to get back into photography and thanks to the amazing San Jose arts scene, I’ve been able to dip my toe. The first photo is the one on display, slides 2-4 are some outtakes that I also liked. Go see the show and support a local business plus a ton of amazing photographers: @zaxavila , @carmantyra.jg , @shantainv , le_sapo, @deven630 , @el.nandolorian , @chrisillmatic , @jopbaylon , @itsleilanilei , @_aortiz408 , @jamadrien , @jnomberto19 , @beeenitez , @rjayrivera_ , @danieldentone_ , @ethangregorydodge , @23rdhourphoto , @kabra.jpg , @sj.shooters , @tiimestamp , @gonzaguilar_photographer408 , @thephotoghoul , @facesofwizdom

I’m still cute even when I don’t feel like it. life is hard y’all. but I’m doing what I can.

Stephanie Barajas Maria y su mamá, 2024 digital and film photography collage on paper poster board Using photography and collage, Stephanie Barajas explores the fragmentation of memory, self, and culture by combining portraits of her subjects with their childhood photos. Memory’s fleeting nature is captured through her cut-and-paste technique, deconstructing and reconfiguring portraits to symbolize the difficulty of piecing together memories. The photographic fragments at the bottom of the frame represent the elusive details we struggle to recall. With her series, DACAmented, Barajas initiates a conversation about immigration and the significance of DACA for many families in the United States. DACA is an administrative relief program that protects eligible immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children from deportation, providing them with protection and a work permit, which must be renewed every two years. Those with DACA know that it’s only a bandaid but at least, for now, it has given them papeles. As the presidential election approaches, the future of DACA remains uncertain, leaving tens of thousands of DACAmented Dreamers concerned about their future in this country.  As a citizen-by-chance, Stephanie is passionate about immigration issues and through this series, seeks to explore what DACA means to those who arrived in this country as children, to their parents who are to show how connected and how personal DACA is to her. In this series, she features some of the people closest to her heart who are DACA recipients along with their mothers, those who brought them here in search of a better life. Maria y su mamá - Maria came to the country at 13 and is one of Stephanie’s oldest friend. They met 18 years ago, after Stephanie had been in the US for a few weeks. Maria is the only DACA-recipient out of her 3 siblings. Her family travels to Mexico often, but she hasn’t been able to return once since leaving in 2004. From Where I Stand is currently on view in our Gallery from June 7 to August 11, 2024. For purchase inquiries, please email [email protected]