Lenore Chinn, a native San Franciscan who graduated from San Francisco State College with a B.A. in Sociology, is a painter, photographer, and cultural activist who works to create structures of personal and institutional support that will both sustain critical artistic production and advance movements for social justice. Portraiture is at the core of her visual art practice whether it is painting or photography—both are employed in her creative process. Her current street photography chronicles a rapidly changing socio-political landscape. She has been active in the Asian American Women Artists Association since the group was founded. From 1988–1992, she served on the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.