“Ten dyke marches all over L.A.”: a conversation with Judy Ornelas Sisneros

Abstract

“Ten dyke marches over L.A.” captures highlights from an interview with the Los Angeles queer activist and photographer, Judy Ornelas Sisneros. Originally from Bakersfield, California, Sisneros grew up in a racially mixed working-class neighborhood; she made Los Angeles her permanent home in the late 1980s. Her political education began through the newspapers her family shared at the dining table. Sisneros developed an early love of photojournalism which she pursued formally in her education and in the punk practice of Do-It-Yourself. Persistent, creative, and dedicated to her subjects, Sisneros has honed her own unique aesthetics and politics in documenting music scenes, political events, communities, and social spaces that show the dynamic diversity of Los Angeles. As a co-founder of Dyke March L.A., the title refers to Sisneros’s vision of the plentitude and possibility for queer L.A.

Keywords:

• Queer activism
• ACT UP
• Los Angeles
• Latinx
• Photography

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Vikki Gutman & Audrey Silvestre, Club Scum Halloween party, Montebello, 2019. Photograph by Judy Ornelas Sisneros.

Seal Sanchez dropping groceries to photographer during COVID-19, Silver Lake, 2020. Photograph by Judy Ornelas Sisneros.

Katie Childe & her dog Spike, Los Angeles Dyke March, 2008. Photograph by Judy Ornelas Sisneros.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.