Educate. Organize. Document.
Stef Bernal-Martinez is a queer xicana educator, organizer and documentarian from the West Texas borderlands.
While making home in Montgomery, Alabama, Stef co-founded 1977 Books, an abolitionist bookstore and community space. Her politics and the foundation of 1977 Books are rooted in the teachings of the Combahee River Collective.
Stef’s introduction to photography was with a sparkly purple Tweety Bird 120 film camera gifted to her by her momma when she was in the 4th grade. Since then, Stef has been enamored with authentically documenting the lived experiences of Black, brown, queer and working-class people in the South.
As an educator and organizer, Stef has spent the last decade committed to integrating documentary art into the classroom and larger movement spaces. She believes that telling our own stories in our own voices is how we get free.