Photo: Jose Galvez
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then José Galvez's poignantly powerful and constantly growing photographic body of work would translate into tomes.
These tomes would be in-depth studies of the American Latino experience, covering over 40 years of history that began when Mr. Galvez started shooting pictures at 16-years-old.
Born at Tucson's St. Mary's Hospital in 1949, Mr. Galvez's early years were spent in Barrio Hollywood. His family eventually settled in downtown's Barrio Viejo on Main Avenue, just south of Carrillo Elementary School.
As an entrepreneurial ten-year-old, José found vocation as a shoe shine boy - which directly led to his future profession.
In the early 1960s, the Arizona Daily Star's headquarters were downtown and situated near an automobile service station. Galvez remembers his younger self "hanging around the service station behind the newspaper building.
"One night while I was hanging around, the (station's) phone rang," Mr. Galvez recalls. "There was a man in the sports department who was asking if 'that little shoe shine boy' was there and - 'if so, could he come up to the Star's news room?'
"I found my way and didn't leave that newsroom for another 20 years."
Though he didn't officially work for the newspaper until he was 16, Mr. Galvez said that he spent the six year interim running errands, doing yard work for reporters and librarians, selling newspapers on the streets and, of course, shining shoes.
"Mostly I watched how reporters and photographers worked, often going on assignments with them. When I was hired as a copy boy my responsibilities were to monitor the teletype machines - which were typing that day’s news stories from across the world - answer telephones, pick up reports and photographs from outside the building."
The Star's offices, during quiet times, provided Galvez a place to study and do school work through his college years. Mentored by reporters and editors of the Star and also by the Mexican-American men in his community, Galvez found his calling in photojournalism. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 1972, and a few months anon he was hired by the Star as a staff photographer.
"I think that I liked photography more so than journalism because it was more of an art. A reporter can have his story changed. It's a little harder for them to do that to a picture."
With his art, Mr. Galvez skillfully and beautifully captures the lives of Latinos. He says on his website that the questions he explores with his images include, "How do new immigrants adapt? How do their children navigate a bilingual, bicultural existence? How do their grandchildren display their American-ness with a tense mixture of social savvy and longing for the past?"
His thoughtful, passionate and respectful approach toward documenting American Latino experiences led to a Pulitzer Prize. While working at the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Galvez was part of a team that won the Public Service Pulitzer in 1984 for an "in-depth examination of southern California's growing Latino community."
However, when asked what some of his most poignant memories as a professional photographer have been, Mr. Galvez doesn't mention winning the coveted award or being the first Chicano to do so. He brings up memories of seeing and capturing César Chávez's exhaustion while the activist was on a protest fast, and driving with humanitarian Mother Teresa in the backseat of his car.
"Those two stick out. There are tons more. I meet new ones every day."
Currently, Mr. Galvez lives with his familia in North Carolina, but returns to his old stomping grounds on September 20 for an exhibit opening that is in conjunction with the release of his new book, Shine Boy.
The show features 20 black and white images that were chosen to reflect a feeling similar to the stories in the book, with the pictures taken in the late 1960s and in the 1970s.
"The central theme in Shine Boy is of a young boy growing up in a much smaller and safer Tucson in the 1950s and 60s. They're stories about having ganas, desire, and dreams. About being a hustler and having an imagination. It's also a book that the photography lover can enjoy the images and see how they convey the feelings of each story."
La Pilita Museum, 420 S. Main, is hosting the national debut of the Shine Boy exhibit and happens to be just blocks from his childhood home.
"The duplex is still there. I'm often tempted to stop and knock on the door to ask permission to do some photographs."
Shine Boy will be available at the Sept 20 opening, which runs from 3pm-6pm and includes music by Los Hollywood Trio. Free. Visit www.JoseGalvez.com or www.LaPilita.com for more information.
