Valerie J. Bower photographs and zines, 2015-2025

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Summary

Abstract:
Photographic prints and zines created by Los Angeles photographer Valerie J. Bower.
Extent:
3.22 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Valerie J. Bower photographs and zines, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

Gelatin silver prints and photograph-based zines created by Valerie J. Bower. The We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) portfolio includes eighty 8"x12" gelatin silver prints with a custom box: photographs 2021, printed 2024. Bower produced this set of prints from the photographs used in the We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo) zine, a homage to food distributors, farmworkers and the Manong generation of Filipino immigrants to Central California in the 1920s-1970s. For the zine, Bower visited the town of Delano, north of Los Angeles, to photograph the grape farms and historic Filipino Community Hall, where much of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike organizing took place. While researching the zine, Bower also had conversations with her mother, an immigrant to California from Butuan, Philippines, about the roots and significance of food in Filipino culture. She also photographed restaurants and cultural signage of Historic Filipinotown near downtown Los Angeles, Filipino markets in Long Beach and Carson, a major Filipino food product distributor, and followed volunteers who were preparing and delivering food to Filipino elders.

Other prints include seven miscellaneous prints from 2016-2019, and eight 8"x12" gelatin silver prints: photographs 2015, printed 2024. These photographs were originally reproduced in Gusmano Cesaretti's Fotofolio publication featuring car club and lowrider scenes taken around Watts, North Hollywood, Crenshaw, and East Los Angeles.

Also included are copies of ten of Bower's zines: Girls L.A., 2016; Homegirls, 2017; Tonight, 2019; Picture Us, 2021; We Are Essential (Mahalaga Tayo), 2021; Watts (revisited), 2023; Now and Forever, 2023; JP17: photographs 2017, published 2024; Philippines Street: photos 2016, published 2024; and Tropikal: photographs 2009, 2011, 2016, published 2025.

Biographical / historical:

Valerie J. Bower (born 1986) is a photographer and zine-maker born and raised in the Harbor area of Los Angeles. Bower's work focuses on people and communities of color, various street cultures, and everyday life in Los Angeles, as well as the influences of West Coast and lowrider culture in other parts of the United States, Japan, the Philippines, and Mexico. Her work includes a collection of self-published books, zines, and printed items such as letter writing and postcard sets.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Valerie J. Bower, February 2025 and September 2025.
Processing information:

Processed by Kelly Kress in October 2025.

Arrangement:

Arranged by format.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Valerie J. Bower photographs and zines, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2129
reference@huntington.org
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