"Why Is There A Liquor Store On Almost Every Corner?", 2025
Terrick Gutierrez
installation
"Why Is There A Liquor Store On Almost Every Corner?" Terrick Gutierrez' Why Is There A Liquor Store on Almost Every Corner? is a six-foot-high sign addressing issues including food insecurity and discriminatory zoning. Inspired by his experience in South Central LA, where liquor stores are prevalent but healthy food options scarce, the sign questions this disparity. It resembles a traditional liquor store sign but asks a critical question. The back features a map of South Central, a heatmap of liquor stores, and an image of a local store.
Gallery
About the Artist
Terrick Gutierrez (b. 1994) is an LA-based interdisciplinary artist, creative technologist, activist, researcher, and curator who grew up in South Central. He is a child of Belizean and Mexican immigrants and his work explores urban life in LA through the lens of the rapidly changing built environment such as liquor stores and public housing projects. Social issues including food insecurity, cultural erasure and displacement are themes found throughout his work which also explores personal histories addressing topics such as race, identity, and migration.
Gutierrez is a graduate of Morehouse College with a masters from New York University. He has exhibited across the country, including Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles, and his work is in private collections on both the East and West Coast.
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