HISTORY OF THE LMF LANGUAGE MOBILIZATION FACTORY

The LMF Gallery + Darkroom (Language Mobilization Factory) located in Sierra Madre, CA, is a curated all medium gallery established in January 2024 with our first show (Navi Toly), opening in March of 2024.

The two Primaries are: Xrstine Franco (Owner / Director / Curator / artist), and Ilir Zeneli (Co-owner / Preparator / Artist). Franco, hailing from The Academy of Art S.F., CA and Zeneli Art Center College of Design. Rocio Medina, Pitzer and UC Riverside, is our Assistant Preparator.

History : Xrstine Franco Owned and Directed of SPACE POMONA from 2011 to 2016 before bringing the gallery to Claremont as SPACE GALLERY + Records. Franco / Zeneli briefly ran Neon Moon in Claremont and finally opened The LMF Gallery + Darkroom as their permanent home in Sierra Madre.

In March of 2025, The LMF Welcomed it's new Darkroom Director, Henry Ivany Aguilar. Henry comes to the gallery with lots of darkroom experience (retail / production and processing), and zeal for growing the LMF's capabilities via workshops and classes.

Mission Statement: The Gallery is designed to support artists of all types in “showing” in the gallery and “making” in our on-site analogue darkroom. The gallery is "Latin owned, laser focused on showing a diverse mix of fine art with an eye on inclusivity. We always support gender, race and religious diversity. All art is a Language.