An Exhibit With Rare Photos of Selena Opens Today in Texas

(Photo : Instagram)
Screenshot from: McNay Art Museum Official Instagram Account

When the award-winning Latina artist Selena Quintanilla was murdered by the president of her fans club in 1995 at the height of her career, it brought shock and grief to the world.

But her early passing was not in vain because more than two decades later, her fans and fellow artists continue to celebrate her life and she has become even more popular. Various platforms and entities immortalized her with their products and works that go beyond music.

To serve her fans new content and information, a new exhibition in San Antonio has been set up to pay tribute to the late Latina superstar.

According to an article by Remezcla, the exhibition is titled Selena Forever/Siempre Selena which opened Wednesday at McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas highlight. It highlights five never-before-displayed images of Selena taken by San Antonio-based photographer John Dyer who worked closely with the Chicana singer, designer and all-around icon several times throughout the '90s. Other pictures during their collaborations were already featured in multiple publications such as Más Magazine, People Magazine, Texas Monthly and more.

Dyer's extensive collection of documentary-style photography features a diverse array of people and live candid images of the Grammy Award-winning artist in her iconic shimmering tops and high-waisted pants.

In an interview with Heidi Vaughan Fine Art, Dyer said there was a difference in Selena between when he first took her picture in 1992 and the second time in 1995. 

"She had just finished two exhausting days of shooting TV commercials for a corporate sponsor. She was tired," Dyer said. "I had brought a beautiful hand-made jacket for her to wear. I posed her in the alcove on the mezzanine of the theater where the light is particularly nice. She was subdued and pensive. A far cry from the ebullient, excited young singer I'd photographed three years earlier. Later I thought her mood might have been an eerie harbinger of what was to come." 

Dyer recalled the time he got the news of Selena's death, and said he "lost something that day."

"It's amazing how emotional people still are about Selena," Dyer told San Antonio Magazine. "It's been 25 years (since she was killed) - that really tells you something about that young lady and the mark she left on the state and the world."

The exhibition will run until July 15, 2020.

Selena Forever/Siempre Selena is organized by the McNay Art Museum, curated by Kate Carey, Head of Education.

For fans who want to see more of Salena's memorabilia, you can also visit the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas built by the Quintanilla family as a memorial for her fans and showcases many of Selena's stage costumes, collections as well as her red Porsche.

Moreover, you can also explore the legacy of the Selena Quintanilla and her representation in media starting this spring of 2020 as San Diego State University's School of Journalism and Media Studies will be offering a course called, "JMS 496: Selena and Latinx Media Representation" dedicated to the late Tejano music icon due to her influence and relevance in Latinx culture.