Xelestial Moreno-Luz

Eve XelestiAl Moreno–Luz

Xelestial Moreno-Luz is a photographer, social practitioner, and visual artist from South East and Central Los Angeles. She lives in San Diego and works between and across Los Angeles and México. Her visual work depicts transgender and non-binary artists, activists, and sex workers in performance, nightlife, fugitivity, and collaboration. She works in the mode of portraiture, gravitating to trans ritual; protests, runways, and the stage are the sites in which rituality is highlighted in her practice. Her community-based work emphasizes empowerment, self-determination, and community organizing. She has spent the past ten years working in coalition with community members dedicated to confronting immigrant injustice, fostering transgender liberatory spaces, expanding the field of LGBTQ+ art education, and increasing access to HIV resources for communities of color. Xelestial has received grants from the Ford Foundation, the Center for Cultural Power, and the California Arts Council to expand trans-visual landscapes. She has presented at the Harvard Undergraduate Research Conference, the United States Conference on HIV & AIDS, and the National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures.