Kathy Vargas

by Lucy R. Lippard

"Long recognized nationally and internationally, Kathy Vargas' photography honors her multiple social and cultural inheritances in both subject matter and methods. It weaves together Vargas' Huichol and Zapotec heritages, Catholic upbringing, and early exposure to blues, gospel, and rock-and-roll music as inspiration, with an emphasis on "the cycle of life/death/acceptance/consolation/rebirth."". "This full-color volume is the catalog for the artist's first major retrospective, which opens in December 2000 at the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. The catalog features all of the artist's major series, from her early black-and-white street photography taken within walking distance of her family home in San Antonio to the signature multiple-exposures she has been composing in her studio since 1981. Hand-applied color makes each black-and-white photograph unique, whether it is a small individual print or a component of a large-scale installation. The catalog also inclu