Louis Carlos Bernal is the namesake of the Bernal Gallery on Pima Community College-West Campus. Louis was born in 1941 in Douglas, AZ. He grew up in Phoenix, served in the Army, worked his way through Arizona State University, and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in photography. Louis was the first to obtain a degree in his family.
Lou moved to Tucson in 1972 after accepting a full-time teaching position at Pima Community College. It is in Tucson that Lou formulated the motives that inspired his mature photographs. “I have concerned myself with the mysticism of the Southwest, and the spiritual and cultural values of the barrio.”
Bernal’s accomplishments in the 1970s and 1980s brought him international recognition. He is now considered the father of Chicano Photography. In 1984, he was given the honor to be the first Mexican American photographer to photograph the US Olympics in Los Angeles, CA.
On October 24, 1989, Lou was riding his bicycle to work and was accidentally struck by a car. He never regained consciousness and died on his 52nd birthday, August 18, 1993.
Abridged from ‘Barrios’ compiled by Ann Simmons-Myers.
