The truck jostles and my mother’s dog, Jake, climbs over her shoulder – sniffing the air to check perimeters. She chose him earlier that year because he had her younger brother’s eyes; Even though Uncle Sonny passed 12 years ago, I can see the resemblance. My dad pulls into a gas station before our drive southeast to Corpus Christi. I take the opportunity to stretch my legs, passing a young man quietly strumming his guitar. A long sleek dog, who seemingly just had a litter of puppies, was his audience of one. After delivering bottled waters to the back seat, I return with a camera and friendly handshake– His hand were calloused and oil stained, with a gentle grip that matched my own. I remark on the dog’s beauty and if he would like their portrait; “A” looks down with a caring smile as he said, “Sure. She’s not my dog– we just sort of found each other”.

"We Found Eachother"

Closet Sale Shoppers

Actors on their day off during the filming of "Buried Onions" in Fresno, CA. 35mm, 2022\. 

A Splash Tableaux

Dinnertime scene in Manhattan. 35mm, 2022\. 

Christmas at Casino

Magasin's closet sale brought shoppers from across the boroughs to Manhattan's Lower East Side. Alexis Badiyi gathers and styles a wrap dress in celebration of adornment. 35mm, 2022.

Alexis (The Hug)

Magasin's closet sale brought shoppers from across the boroughs to Manhattan's Lower East Side. 35mm, 2022\. 

Closet Sale Shopper

Three Women (Al's Gals)

Spoonbridge (Just Desserts)

"Found Altar I" was taken on the street in Los Angeles, CA as an homage to my childhood. 

Found Altar I

Photograph taken at the harbor in Chicago, IL. 

Signed, The Fish

This photograph was taken from the view of Lady Java’s rose garden during the making of “Legends of Drag: Queens of a Certain Age”, in Los Angeles, CA. 

Legends of Drag is an archive of living drag history, featuring portraits and stories from drag

queen elders in cities across the country. Inspired by that night at Aunt Charlie’s, artists Harry

James Hanson, Devin Antheus, and Deb Leal began the project in the spring of 2018\. It has

grown to include 81 queens in 16 cities. Those portraits were published as Legends of Drag:

Queens of A Certain Age in May 2022, from Abrams Books. Legends of San Francisco

spotlights our local models, in the city where it all began.

The Roses of Los Angeles (Lady Java's Garden)

A candid moment captured in the celebration of reuniting with friends after the 2020 shutdown. Delavan, WI. 

The Dance (Farm Party)

The US Roadtrip– A topic on the minds of many artists and photographers over the years. I see “A Sinclair Story (Lizard on Rock)” (2020), as a visual opera containing decades of familial history, and a capsule in time while relics develop in the turning climate. I am reminded of the road trips of my youth as my parents drove 28 hours straight to Corpus Christi, TX- taking turns sleeping in the passenger seat in order to lessen the stops. I would often watch them interact with each other, in love and smiling with excitement when Tejano music hit the radiowaves. As the 2020 pandemic brought a sense of shared loneliness, I am reminded of the spirit that my parents had on their yearly voyage. I see my childhood self in that little lizard on the rock, looking up at such a grandiose love.

A Sinclair Story (Lizard on Rock)

Photographer Deb Leal infuses her colorful world of childhood nostalgia in the feature production of "Buried Onions", a stream-of-conscious narrative set in the barrio of Fresno, CA.

  
Nostalgia acts as a way of personal time travel: As bold uses of color may tether the work to contemporary practices, color can also lend itself to our earliest joyful memories. Reading the script written for audiences in 2023, its conflicts still relate to struggles read about in the 1997 YA novel. Similar themes can also be found in "Zoot Suit", written by Luis Valdez and based on the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon trial; It was the first Chicano play to be performed on Broadway in 1979\. Within each text, the authors explore opportunities available to Chicano boys when entering adulthood: Enlist in the military or meet loss of vitality through death or prison.

On and off the set in Fresno, friendships and playful energy seeped into much of the work as I documented the creative process. Crew members were often found huddled together in an effort to muffle their laughter, dancing quietly so as not to be heard by the boom operator. We enjoyed food made with love during breaks as birds chirped and bicycle cogs ticked in the background. As a third-generation Chicana, I am honored to have been included in the making of this film-- it is also my hope to hold close influences of joy as reverberations of pain are discussed throughout a history not widely taught.

Add

Deb Leal