[photo credit: The Huntington]
The presentations expand the institution’s “Borderlands” project, a permanent installation that first opened in November 2021, according to a Huntington press release. They include recent acquisitions from Aguilar’s estate, a site-specific installation by Dorame following her 2023–24 artist residency at The Huntington, and what Rodriguez has called her largest installation to date. Aguilar grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, the region that includes Pasadena, and The Huntington sits directly on Pasadena’s southern border.
“Laura Aguilar: Body and Landscape” runs through September 7, 2026, and draws from works acquired by gift and purchase from the estate of Aguilar, a Chicana photographer who died in 2018, according to the press release. A second rotation, “Laura Aguilar: Day of the Dead,” opens September 20, 2026.
“The return of Aguilar’s In Sandy’s Room to The Huntington as a permanent part of the collection is both fitting and deeply meaningful,” Dennis Carr, the Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator of American Art, said in the press release.
Dorame’s installation, “Mercedes Dorame—Deliquescence: Sites of Transformation,” will be on view through March 2029, according to The Huntington. Dorame, a member of the Gabrielino Tongva Indians of California, was the institution’s 2023–24 artist-in-residence.
“I am interested in the power water holds to transform and be transformed, to dissolve or melt away,” Dorame said in the press release.
Rodriguez’s “Book 13” runs through April 27, 2027, and features a 20-foot-wide map of the United States created on hand-processed amate-fiber paper, along with plant portraits, a book, and a landscape painting, according to the Huntington’s exhibition page. Rodriguez is the 2025–26 Hannah and Russel Kully Distinguished Fellow in American Art at The Huntington.
“With ‘Book 13,’ I consider how histories and borders are marked, erased, and redrawn across this land,” Rodriguez said in the press release.
The exhibitions are part of The Huntington’s THIS LAND IS… initiative, which the institution describes as a multidisciplinary exploration of land and American identities tied to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, according to the press release.
“Together, these artists create a thoughtful dialogue about land as a place shaped by history and personal connection,” Christina Nielsen, the Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Museum, said in the press release.
The Huntington is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Monday. Reservations are required Friday through Sunday, on holidays, and during peak seasons, according to the institution’s website. Admission is $29 on weekdays and $34 on weekends, holidays, and during peak seasons. Parking is free but may reach capacity on weekends, holidays, and peak seasons. The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. Information: 626-405-2100 or huntington.org.
Accompanying programs include a Sandy Rodriguez lecture on March 11 and a May 3 program with the American LGBTQ+ Museum on Aguilar’s work, according to the press release.
