Biography

Cara Romero is an enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, raised between contrasting settings of the rural Chemehuevi reservation in California’s Mojave Desert, and the urban sprawl of Houston, TX. Maintaining a studio in Santa Fe, NM, Romero regularly participates in Native American art fairs and panel discussions, and was featured in PBS’ Craft in America (2019).

Romero’s work is represented in the permanent collections of more than 50 prominent museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Diego Museum of Art who presents a solo exhibition of her work opening April 27, 2024.

Cara Romero is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Lou Stoumen Award in 2022, the 2019 Desert X Biennial, a fellowship from the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, the NDN Collective’s Radical Imagination Grant, and the IAIA Aritst Residency.

About Cara Romero

Cara Romero’s identity as a citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe informs her photography, shaped by years of study and a visceral approach to representing Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural memory, collective history, and lived experiences from a Native American female perspective.

As an undergraduate in anthropology at the University of Houston, Romero was disillusioned by academic and media portrayals of Native Americans as bygone people. She realized that making photographs could do more than anthropology did in words, a realization that led to a shift in her life’s work. Romero’s expansive oeuvre has been informed by formal training in film, digital, fine art and commercial photography. By staging theatrical compositions infused with dramatic color, Romero takes on the role of storyteller, using contemporary photography techniques to depict the modernity of Native peoples, illuminating Indigenous worldviews and aspects supernaturalism in everyday life.

Location and Event Info

This event takes place at the San Diego Central Library, inside the Neil Morgan Auditorium located on the ground floor. The library is located at 330 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101.

Underground parking at the library is managed by ACE Parking and is excepted to be $50 per car on Friday due to a San Diego Padres home game at 6:30pm.

It is not difficult to park downtown on a Padres home game night if you are willing to walk a few blocks. Areas north of Market St. and east of 13th St. often have open street parking during Padres games. If you prefer not to drive or park downtown we encourage using one of the following options:

• Use of the FRED service in downtown San Diego—an entirely free ride share option serving areas from Little Italy to Barrio Logan, available using the Ride Circuit app. This on-demand, local shuttle uses a fleet of electric vehicles with real-time driver ETA’s, allowing you to park in any convenient downtown location and arrive safely at your destination.

• Public transit options to the Central Library include the Blue and Orange Trolley lines and MTS Bus lines 12, 901, and 929.

• Ride sharing or Taxi service.

The keynote lecture is a ticketed event, and is included with all Festival and VIP passes. All photographers registered for the Medium Review receive a seat at the keynote lecture, with no registration required.