Juan Fuentes - prints and biography
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: Screenprint
Year: 2025
Image Size: 18 x 12 inches
Edition size: 26
Juan Fuentes’ La Reyna is a radiant screenprint celebrating the beauty, strength, and cultural sovereignty of Indigenous women. Against a brilliant blue background filled with blooming orange flowers, a young woman gazes thoughtfully to the side, her expression calm yet quietly defiant. Fuentes’ signature carved linework animates her face, hair, and woven shawl, while vibrant color fields elevate the composition into a bold, iconic image. The floral halo surrounding her transforms her presence into one of symbolic royalty—an affirmation of dignity, heritage, and resilience. Created in 2025 in a small edition of just 26, La Reyna exemplifies Fuentes’ lifelong commitment to using art as a vehicle for empowerment and social justice.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2019
Image Size: 24 × 18 inches
En el Cielo (In the Sky) is a powerful linocut by Juan Fuentes, created in 2019, depicting a farmworker reaching upward into the branches of an apple tree. Rendered in Fuentes’ bold black-and-white carving style, the figure is dramatically silhouetted against the sky, emphasizing both the physical labor and quiet dignity of agricultural workers.
This image is one of five Fuentes artworks selected to be transformed into monumental three-story mosaics as part of Watsonville Brillante, a public arts initiative celebrating the culture and history of Watsonville’s farmworker community.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: screen print
Year: 2024
Image Size: 20 × 16
Edition of 10
Ohlone Dancer is a 2024 screen print by Juan Fuentes, honoring the cultural resilience and living traditions of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. The portrait depicts an Ohlone dancer in traditional regalia—feathered headdress, beaded adornments, and ceremonial markings—rendered in Fuentes’ signature bold linework with a striking touch of red at the lips.
Ohlone dancers hold an essential role in preserving and revitalizing Indigenous cultural practices. Their dances serve not only as expressions of identity and history, but also as a bridge connecting Ohlone communities with other Native peoples across California and beyond. Fuentes’ image pays tribute to this ongoing cultural continuity and the beauty of Indigenous ceremony.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 14 × 17.25 inches
En el Campo (In the Field) is a 2023 linocut by Juan Fuentes depicting a group of farmworkers in the fields of Central California tending crops beneath a sky filled with sweeping birds in motion. Fuentes’ bold carving style brings energy to every part of the scene—the workers’ bodies bent in labor, the sharp contrast of the plants, and the animated flock overhead.
The print reflects Fuentes’ lifelong commitment to honoring the dignity, endurance, and collective strength of agricultural workers, many of whom shaped his own childhood in Central California’s labor camps. The composition balances realism with expressive movement, capturing both the physical demands of the work and the resilience of the people who sustain the land.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2025
Image Size: 17 x 16 inches
Hand printed on Japanese Kozo paper.
n this print, Juan Fuentes presents the side profile of an Indigenous woman whose image represents both womens rights and cultural rights. The figure is surrounded by bold patterns and strong linear carving, creating a powerful visual statement about identity, dignity, and resilience. This edition was hand printed on Japanese Kozo paper.
The image of Hermanita was recreated as a five story mosaic in 2021 as part of the large scale public art project in Watsonville known as Watsonville Brillante. It was installed on the Civic Plaza Parking Garage and remains one of the most visible artworks in the project. Large scale installation photo courtesy of Tarmo Hannula, The Pajaronian.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2022
Image Size: 18 x 12 inches
Edition size: 10
Reyna is a striking linocut portrait by Juan Fuentes. The image shows a young Indigenous woman surrounded by tall blooming flowers, carved with Fuentes signature energetic linework. Her expression is calm and reflective, capturing themes of identity, cultural strength, and everyday resilience. The bold contrast of black and white emphasizes both the beauty of the figure and the symbolic landscape behind her.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 18 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
Juan Fuentes’ El Río Grande captures the perilous journey of refugees crossing the river that marks the boundary between the United States and Mexico. Rendered in bold, expressive carving, the figures wade through churning water, burdened by the weight of their belongings and the emotional weight of displacement. Fuentes emphasizes resilience in the face of hardship: each figure is carved with rhythmic, dynamic lines that communicate both physical struggle and unwavering determination.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 18 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
Juan Fuentes’ Tracks to a Home? is a deeply affecting linocut that follows a small group of migrants walking along railroad tracks toward an uncertain future. Carved with Fuentes’ signature rhythmic, expressive linework, the scene portrays figures from behind—an older man carrying bags, a woman with belongings strapped to her back, and a father carrying a young child on his shoulders. Their silhouettes move toward the horizon where the tracks split, symbolizing both possibility and risk.
The composition evokes themes of displacement, endurance, and the search for safety.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size:
Edition Size: 10
Juan Fuentes’ No Olvidadas (“Not Forgotten”) is one of his most powerful and emotionally searing linocuts, created to honor the women who have been lost to violence, disappearance, and systemic injustice throughout the Americas. The composition centers on four grieving figures — an elder man holding a cross, a woman looking into the distance, a child crying out, and an older woman wrapped in a shawl — each representing the weight borne by families and communities left behind.
Behind them rises a field of white crosses inscribed with words such as madre, hermana, hija, amiga, compañeras, sobrina, and nuera — a stark reminder that the victims are not statistics but deeply loved relatives whose absence shapes generations.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2006
Image Size: 16 x 14 inches
Juan Fuentes’ La Comadre is a striking portrait that blends strength, quiet resolve, and cultural dignity. Rendered in bold black ink with radiant gold accents, the composition centers on a woman wrapped in a patterned shawl, her face carved in Fuentes’ signature rhythmic linework.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2016
Image Size: 18 x 12 inches
Edition Size: 20
Juan Fuentes’ Teracita is a radiant, deeply expressive portrait celebrating Indigenous identity, feminine strength, and cultural continuity. Rendered in bold linocut linework paired with vibrant hand-applied color, the composition centers on a young woman shown in profile, her expression calm yet inwardly powerful. H
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 24 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
Juan Fuentes’ Danzante is a powerful linocut honoring Indigenous dance traditions and ceremonial identity. The composition features a dancer in profile, head bowed in concentration, wearing an elaborate feathered headdress that radiates outward in rhythmic arcs. Fuentes’ intricate carving captures the texture of each feather and the floral patterns of the dancer’s garment, emphasizing both cultural significance and handmade craft. Holding a decorated rattle, the figure embodies movement, ceremony, and ancestral continuity—an image of strength rooted in tradition.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2011
Image Size: 20 x 14 inches
Edtion: of 25
Juan Fuentes’ Maya is a vibrant and dignified portrait celebrating Indigenous identity and textile tradition. Shown in profile, the figure is wrapped in an elaborately patterned garment bursting with color—teal, yellow, rose, blue, and gold—each stripe carved with Fuentes’ signature rhythmic mark-making. With its bold color and expressive carving, Maya honors cultural memory, resilience, and the artistry of Indigenous weaving.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 18 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
In Si Se Puede, Juan Fuentes uses his bold linocut language to depict a migrant climbing a towering border wall as a swarm of monarch butterflies fills the sky. The contrast between the rigid, endless vertical slats of the barrier and the fluttering movement of the butterflies evokes both struggle and hope. The piece honors resilience, migration, and the belief in possibility carried by those seeking a new life.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 18 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: Color linocut
Year: 2025
Image Size: 12 × 12 inches
Apache Love is a tender and dignified portrait by Juan Fuentes, depicting an Indigenous figure wrapped in a patterned blanket, framed against a stark, linear sky. The warm red headband and cool blue textile accents create a striking contrast, highlighting the sitter’s quiet strength and presence. Fuentes’ carving emphasizes resilience, cultural identity, and the enduring power of Indigenous representation.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2019
Edition of 21
Image Size: 13.5 x 12.75 inches
Micaela (Color) is a striking portrait by Juan Fuentes, featuring a woman adorned with geometric face markings and vibrant accents of turquoise, gold, and deep blue. Set against a solid black background, the figure’s expression is calm yet powerful, emphasizing identity, lineage, and cultural continuity. The bold color palette and rhythmic carving showcase Fuentes’ signature approach to representing Indigenous and Latinx subjects with dignity and symbolic resonance.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2019
Image Size: 18 x 24 inches
"El Danzante" depicts a dancer in traditional Indigenous attire, flanked by a pig-faced police officer and a figure in a Ku Klux Klan hood, symbolizing systemic violence and racism. A menacing dog, tethered by the hooded figure, adds to the tension, while the background's vertical bars suggest imprisonment or confinement.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2021
Image Size: 15 x 11.5 inches
Edition of 10
Juan Fuentes’ Frida’s Rings pays tribute to Frida Kahlo through a quietly powerful portrait focused on her expressive hands and iconic jewelry. Carved with Fuentes’ signature rhythmic linework, the print emphasizes gesture, adornment, and emotional presence rather than literal likeness. The tightly clasped hands—adorned with Kahlo’s distinctive rings—anchor the composition, evoking both creative intensity and personal resilience. The interplay of pattern, shadow, and negative space creates a striking image that honors Frida not only as an artist, but as a symbol of endurance and self-expression.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: Screenprint
Year: 2023
Image Size: 24 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
Juan Fuentes’ La Danzante (Color) is a vibrant and celebratory portrait honoring Indigenous dancers and their enduring cultural traditions. The composition centers on a woman in full ceremonial regalia, her gaze lowered in quiet focus as she holds a brightly colored hand drum. Her elaborate feathered headdress radiates outward in soft purples, creating a striking halo of movement and rhythm. The dancer’s floral garment is rendered in Fuentes’ signature style—intricate patterns, bold outlines, and layered colors—evoking both textile craft and spiritual symbolism. This edition highlights the joy, dignity, and cultural continuity embodied in traditional dance ceremonies.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2019
Image Size: 24 x 16 inches
Edition of 10
Ximena Busca La Paz (“Ximena Seeks Peace”) is one of Juan Fuentes’ most lyrical works, portraying a young girl seated in quiet concentration, surrounded by swirling doves and radiating symbolic patterns. The intricate carving—especially in her braids, clothing, and the rhythmic background—evokes cultural continuity and the universal longing for safety and serenity. Fuentes blends realism and metaphor, using motion and pattern to suggest the child’s inner world and her search for peace amid turbulence. A powerful and contemplative linocut from 2019.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 24 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
Juan Fuentes’ Aztlan Low & Slow is a bold tribute to Chicano culture, community pride, and lowrider tradition. Set against a backdrop of meticulously carved roses, the scene features a classic lowrider with an AZTLAN license plate and four figures dressed in sharp zoot-suit-inspired attire. Their presence—confident, stylish, and grounded in heritage—anchors the composition in cultural continuity and resistance. Fuentes’ intricate linework brings texture to chrome, fabric, and skin, creating a powerful celebration of identity and collective memory within the Chicano movement.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2019
Image Size: 24 x 18 inches
Edition size: 10
Kayapo, Stop Deforestation addresses the urgent issue of Amazon rainforest destruction, focusing on the Kayapo Indigenous people's fight to protect their territory. recently acquired by the Library of Congress, this print employs Fuentes' signature social realist style, using stark contrasts and symbolic imagery to depict the Kayapo's resistance against illegal logging, mining, and ranching, which have devastated the Amazon. Fuentes’ work underscores the intersection of Indigenous rights and ecological survival, urging viewers to confront the ongoing crisis.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2021
Image Size: 13 x 18 inches
Edition size: 10
In Cosechando Alcachofas, Juan Fuentes honors California’s agricultural workers with a detailed linocut of a farm laborer harvesting artichokes. The strong lines, textured patterns, and windswept background emphasize resilience, dignity, and the physical demands of field work. Fuentes’ print continues his longstanding commitment to portraying the labor, identity, and humanity of campesino communities.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: Linocut
Year: 2003
Image Size: 23 x 16 inches
Edition of 20
n Cesar y Olin, Juan Fuentes honors labor leader Cesar Chavez through a powerful portrait surrounded by symbols of struggle and renewal. Grapevines reference the farmworkers’ movement, while inset scenes of field labor and domestic work acknowledge the collective efforts behind social change. Radiating Olin glyphs evoke life force and cultural continuity. This edition, held in the Library of Congress, reflects Fuentes’ ongoing commitment to dignity and justice for working families.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 18 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
In Tex-Mex, Juan Fuentes portrays two elders—one a Vietnam veteran—standing together with strength and dignity. Their clothing, patches, and tattoos reflect layered histories of service, identity, and cultural memory. The bold patterning behind them reinforces a sense of resilience and shared legacy. Fuentes honors Chicano veterans and community elders by depicting them as carriers of lived experience and cultural pride.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2023
Image Size: 18 x 24 inches
Edition Size: 10
In Cali, Juan Fuentes captures a confident figure standing beside a classic motorcycle, framed by swirling, stylized patterns that echo Chicano mural traditions. The subject’s stance and attire evoke pride, identity, and cultural presence, while the bold linework emphasizes resilience and self-determination. This linocut reflects Fuentes’ ongoing commitment to portraying everyday people with dignity, strength, and unmistakable visual power.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: Screenprint
Year: 2013
Edition of 23
Image Size: 20 x 13.5 inches
In Sueño Despierta (“Awake Dream”), Juan Fuentes creates a vivid portrait that merges identity, resilience, and cultural memory. The central figure—wearing a Día de los Muertos–inspired face painting—appears in a state of alert dreaming, held between worlds. The flowing red hair, floral motifs, and symbolic skeletal hand evoke ancestral presence and spiritual continuity, reflecting Fuentes’ ongoing focus on heritage, transformation, and collective strength.
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2021
Image Size: 22 x 14 inches
Edition of 20
Flaco is Juan Fuentes’ powerful linocut portrait honoring legendary accordionist Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez, a central figure in Norteño, Tex-Mex, and Tejano music. Fuentes captures Jiménez with vibrant rhythmic linework that echoes the movement and spirit of his performances. A tribute to cultural heritage and musical influence, this edition reflects Fuentes’ commitment to documenting influential Chicano icons.
Juan Fuentes
Photo By: Joe Ramos
Biography
Juan Fuentes is a cultural activist, artist, and printmaker whose career has been dedicated to advancing social justice through art. Rooted in a belief that printmaking can amplify the struggles and hopes of marginalized communities, Fuentes has created a body of work that addresses issues of inequality, liberation, and human dignity on both local and global levels.
Born into the turbulent political climate of the 1970s, Fuentes was shaped by the Chicano, African American, Asian, Native American, and Middle Eastern movements for civil rights and peace. These struggles became recurring themes in his work, giving voice to communities whose histories and aspirations were often overlooked.
His entry into silkscreen printing was guided by influential mentors Rupert García and Malaquías Montoya, both pioneers of politically engaged Chicano art. Their guidance led Fuentes to embrace poster-making as a tool of community empowerment, producing images that were not only artistically striking but also socially resonant. Over time, Fuentes expanded into relief printmaking, drawing inspiration from the social realist traditions of Mexican masters José Guadalupe Posada and Leopoldo Méndez. Like them, he uses the figure and portrait to narrate stories, explore the human condition, and connect art with everyday struggles.
In addition to his personal practice, Fuentes has been a significant figure in arts education and community engagement. He served as Director of Mission Grafica, the printmaking studio at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco, from 1997 to 2007. Under his leadership, the program became a hub for socially conscious printmakers, fostering new generations of artists committed to cultural activism.
After leaving Mission Grafica, Fuentes established Pajaro Editions, his own printmaking studio. In 2008, Pajaro Editions participated in The Art of Democracy, a nationwide coalition of artists who used their work to critique the state of American politics and call for change.
Through his ongoing work, Juan Fuentes continues to uphold the belief that art is not only a reflection of society but also a catalyst for justice and transformation.
Related artists exploring social justice and protest in contemporary printmaking:
By Juan Fuentes
Medium: linocut
Year: 2015
Image Size: 18 x 24 inches
Edition size: 20
Juan Fuentes’ Bracero Brothers pays tribute to the Mexican laborers whose work under the 1942–1964 Bracero Program sustained U.S. agriculture while leaving lasting personal and cultural impacts. Drawn from Fuentes’ own childhood in the farm labor camps of California, the linocut depicts a line of workers receiving their meager rations after long hours in the fields. The rhythmic carving, bold contrasts, and expressive faces convey both exhaustion and dignity, reflecting Fuentes’ lifelong commitment to art as a vehicle for social justice. Rooted in lived experience and collective memory, the image honors the resilience of workers whose contributions have too often been forgotten.