Laura Aguilar is a photographer whose works are mostly portraits. Professor Chon Noriega of UCLA's Department of Film and Television writes that Aguilar's work documents "social groups and identities that remain invisible in mainstream culture: Latina lesbians, black couples, obese people, et al." She cooperates with her subjects so that "her work is not about power differentials between photographer and subject as is often, if implicitly, the case with...the social documentary tradition." An autobiographical element is also apparent in Aguilar's work. Art critic Diana Emery Hulick noted that "the circumstances of [Aguilar's] life are reflected overtly in her art." Aguilar, Hulick wrote, "is large, lesbian, and Chicana, acutely aware of her separateness, yet comfortable enough with herself to present us with a personal vision that is both intimate and authoritative."

Laura Aguilar was born in west San Gabriel Valley, California in 1959. She has studied in the East Los Angeles Community College photography program and the Santa Fe Photographic Workshop, among other programs. In 1994/95 she was the recipient of a California Arts Council Fellowship and in 1991/92 of an Artist's Project Grant from Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). Her work has appeared in exhibits in California, Texas, New York, and Mexico. Collections of her work can be found at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Department in Santa Monica, California. Aguilar lives in Rosemead, California.

Diana Emery Hulick 5:3 (1993), 52-54.