Edgar R. Ayala

Edgar is a Guatemala-born graphic artist and political activist who lives in Oakland, California. An immigrant from Guatemala, he settled in San Francisco in 1986. His first incursion as a graphic artist was when he joined the team at La Raza Graphics Center, in San Francisco’s iconic Mission District, in 1987.  La Raza Graphics was a community based social justice organization at the forefront of the Latino/Latina organizing efforts using graphic media in the SF Bay Area. 

For Edgar, "La Causa," "The Struggle," in the SF Mission District was no different to la lucha back home in Guatemala. He joined a artistically triving community of activists and artists from Central and South America struggling for social justice, locally and back in their countries of origin.

Linked to social justice causes in Guatemala and Central America, Edgar R. Ayala's graphic work led him in 1995 to work for the Vesper Society, an organization that was sponsoring a series of "off-the-record" peace talks, aiming to re-boot the stalled Geneva Guatemalan UN-sponsored peace negotiations.

In 1998 Edgar funded an independent graphic design studio that has since been producing graphics and outreach materials for non profit organizations and small businesses. 
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Affiliations:

• Member of The Latino Advisory Council at the Oakland Museum of California
• Founding member of NALACC, the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities also known as Alianza Americas
• Board President of the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Berkeley, California
• Board member of the Central American Resource Center, CARECEN•SF
• Host Committee member of the Network in Solidarity With The People of Guatemala (NISGUA)
• Member of the co-governing body of the Oakland Catholic Worker, in California