If you’ve already given up on 2020, you’re wrong. This year will mark 25 years since beloved Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla was murdered by Yolanda Saldivar. Of course, knowing the singer would have turned 49 years old this year is horribly tragic. However, the legal magic of ’25’ means that copyright law from her last year of life is about to expire. For the first time, some of the last photos taken of Selena are on public display at a San Antonio art museum. Photographer John Dyer had the privilege of photographing Selena for her cover shoot for Más Magazine in 1992 and again for Texas Monthly in 1995. Dyer has allowed for both sets of photographs to be put on display, and the contrast in her mood is striking. 

The second set of photographs was taken just months before her murder. 

Book your flights to Texas, and buy your tickets, mi gente!

There isn’t a look or photograph of Selena that a child hasn’t dressed up as for Halloween, that a Guarcado plushie hasn’t donned, or that the public hasn’t revered. From Selena’s purple jumpsuit to her fire red lipstick, everything the artist has done has become part of the Mexican-American zeitgeist. And yet… Selena is still giving us more to take in. The signature piece of the exhibit features the 23-year-old star wearing a sequined bustier and high waisted black pants, black patent leather heels firmly planted on a black and white tile checkered floor with a red curtain in the backdrop. 

The photo is so iconic that the museum has reconstructed a look-a-like set for visitors to take their own Selena-inspired photos.

The exhibit, named in both English and Spanish “Selena Forever/Siempre Selena,” is on view at the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio’s first modern art museum. “The exhibition pays tribute to ’90s icon, singer, designer, and Texas legend—Selena Quintanilla-Pérez—with a series of five photographs by award-winning San Antonio photographer John Dyer. Selena was the subject of Dyer’s photo assignments for the cover of Más Magazine in 1992 and again for Texas Monthly in 1995, just months before she was tragically killed at age 23,” the museum states.

The photographer noticed how much more muted Selena was in the shoot months before her death compared to three years prior.

In an interview with Heidi Vaughan Fine Art, Dyer recalls how “she drove up by herself in her little red hatchback and parked in front of my studio” the first time they met in 1992, as Selena’s career was beginning to take off. “She jumped out of her car with a big smile,” and brought in her hand-made, self-designed performance costumes. The checkered floor print was taken during that first shoot. He recalls that “Selena’s quick smile, infectious laugh, and unending energy made her a pleasure to work with. This was in 1992.”

By early 1995, Selena was at the peak of her international fame when Texas Monthly hired Dyer to do another photoshoot. “She had just finished two exhausting days of shooting TV commercials for a corporate sponsor. She was tired. 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 3 years earlier. Later I thought her mood might have been an eerie harbinger of what was to come,” Dyer concluded. We may never know what was going on in the emotional world of Selena on that day — if tensions were rising with Saldivar, or if she was simply an exhausted superstar.

Between the time of the shoot and the magazine cover release, Selena was murdered.

The magazine decided to use “one of the more somber shots” Dyer captured for the magazine cover which ended up becoming a story that chronicled her death. “It’s a cover I would rather not have had,” Dyer recalled. Tejanos and Selena superfans alike, Selena is waiting for you.

The “Selena Forever/Selena Siempre” exhibit is on display at San Antonio’s The McNay Modern Art Museum for the price of general admission ($20). The exhibit dates are Jan. 15, 2020, to July 5, 2020. Selena Forever/Siempre Selena is organized by the McNay Art Museum, curated by Kate Carey, Head of Education.

Pro tip: The museum is open for free on Thursdays from 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.

READ: The Comments in This Photo That Chris Perez Shared of Selena Proves That Her Fandom is Truly Timeless

The obsession with Selena Quintanilla’s murderer Yolanda Saldivar remains strong in the Latino community. So much so, that when a Reddit user posted an AMA claiming to be a corrections officer at the prison in which she has been kept in since murdering the young icon, questions came pouring in by the dozens. 

“I work at a women’s prison as a corrections officer in Gatesville Texas,” wrote the Reddit user “All of the inmates are on death row for murder including Yolanda Saldivar (Selena’s killer), Darly Routier, and many more. Since there are some things I can’t disclose for legal reasons this will be more of an ask me almost anything.”

Check out a few of the intersection questions and responses below. 

Q: Have you seen anything in her or heard anything about her that suggests she’s sorry? 

“Selena’s shooter has always maintained she never wanted to kill Selena and that it was an accident. From the interviews I’ve seen, Saldivar doesn’t have too much remorse for what she’s done. Have you seen anything in her or heard anything about her that suggests she’s sorry?” asked cracksilog. 

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Selena Quintanilla-Pérez’s killer, #YolandaSaldivar is demanding a new trial, but isn’t eligible for parole until 2025. 😦 Get all of the shocking new details at the #linkinbio. (📸: Davila/Mediapunch/Shutterstock; Texas Police)

A post shared by In Touch Weekly (@intouchweekly) on Sep 13, 2019 at 4:40pm PDT

A: “I don’t see her everyday, but from what I’ve seen/heard she doesn’t feel any guilt or remorse. There was one day that I wasn’t working where there were 2 other CO’s working and they happened to be fans of Selena, and while they were working they were singing her songs out loud. Saldivar heard them singing and she completely lost her shit. So from that I’d say she doesn’t feel sorry for what she did.”

q: Not really a question. But on Sunday, Univision aired a special on Selena and her murder. I kinda wish Yolanda was obligated to watch every time Selena was on TV or her music is played on the radio. – 

send_me_ur_tacos123 

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Yolanda Saldivar is asking for a retrial after claiming that the prosecutor in her case withheld critical evidence. Click the link in bio for the full story.⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #YolandaSaldivarRetrial #yolandasaldivar #Selenaquintanilla⁠

A post shared by we are mitú (@wearemitu) on Sep 16, 2019 at 5:30pm PDT

A: Me too honestly. Idk if you saw this in the comments but she heard 2 CO’s singing her songs one day and she flipped shit. Like you murdered her and took away one of the greatest singers this country’s ever had, you don’t get to be angry. I’m actually a Selena fan myself so this still kinda grinds my gears.

Q: Do you feel sorry for most of the inmates (for example maybe their past dictated why they ended up in crime) or do you think they deserve to be there?

A: “There is one in particular that I do kind of feel sorry for. She’s in prison for murder and robbery. She told me that she had a pimp and one night he was beating the crap out of her so she killed him in self defense. But they also got her on a robbery charge and that’s why she’s currently in prison. She told me she admits to killing her pimp because she said “if one of us has to die tonight it’s not gonna be me”. She swears up and down that she didn’t rob him though. In some ways I believe her and if she wasn’t in prison I would honestly want to be her friend.

As for the other inmates, some of them have killed their children. They tell me they’re innocent of that, but if it involves children I tend not to believe that they’re innocent. Especially if there’s decisive evidence agaisnt them.”

Q: Have you seen any escape attempts and were any of them successful also do people freak out because their there everyday all day out of nowhere?- 

rfitzs12

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»Selena was the first person who had ever gotten me to feel this deeply about anyone or anything. I know that she felt the same way about me. Suddenly, we were both crying, weeping silent, slow tears of joy because we had been lucky enough to find each other, and we knew that we were going to be together forever.« – To Selena, with Love.

A post shared by Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (@leyenda.selena) on Dec 20, 2019 at 2:09pm PST

I have seen a few people snap or have mental breakdowns but they were never too crazy. They’re mostly just crying or shouting or both. People who do that mostly are the ones on suicide watch so sometimes that’s what we expect.

Q: “What is the most chilling thing you’ve heard/witnessed, and how long have you been working there?”- couervide

A: I’ve been working here since August of 2018 so a little over a year now.

Honestly the only thing that gives me the chills is what the inmates did that landed them in prison. Especially the ones that murdered their children. We’re technically not allowed to know all the details as to why they’re in prison, we just know they’re there for murder. But a few of the inmates have their own documentaries on Dateline or Investigation Discovery and I’ve watched them.

Another thing that sometimes gives me the chills is that Darly Routier’s youngest son still visits her in prison since he’s the only one she didn’t kill. There’s also another inmate, Debra Jeter who’s in the same prison for murder. She slit both of her daughters throats in an attempt to kill them both, but only one of them died. The other daughter that survived still visits her mom in prison. She says she forgives her for what she did but I don’t know how she can still look at her. The 911 call she made after she slit their throats is just bone chilling since she admitted to the dispatcher that she did it. No guilt. No remorse. Here’s the 911 call: