News Release

As the battle over immigrant rights brews on Capitol Hill, Southern California photographer Rick Nahmias’ The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers photo exhibition shows another side of the story — the daily lives and struggles of today's California migrant farm workers. The exhibition of 40 black and white photos will be on display Sept. 16–Dec. 31 in the Jewett Gallery at the Main Library. The exhibition is also translated into Spanish for Spanish-speaking visitors.

Upwards of a half million farm workers pick California’s fruit and vegetables—produce which accounts for more than half of our nation’s daily consumption. Still, they rank among the state’s poorest and most poorly housed, with the highest percentages of uninsureds and the lowest literacy rates. They are California’s invisible population, traveling in darkness and working in the blinding sun.

In 2002 and 2003, Nahmias traveled to more than 50 rural communities, from Sacramento to the Calexico border, photographing people and recording their stories. Evocative of the style of the WPA images of farm workers of the 1930s, The Migrant Project’s photos depict everything from farm workers’ search for work and housing, to family life and health care issues. Images include: Torribio, a 63-year-old migrant grape picker who spends two to three months a year living out of cardboard boxes in a dirt lot in Mecca due to the town’s chronic housing shortage; Maria, an HIV positive farm worker and single mother of four who was unknowingly infected by her migrant husband, and learned of her status only days before he died across the border; and Mixteco children playing near the Ventura freeway in Oxnard.

“Nahmias’ work takes us beyond stoop labor stills and into the intimate moments and inner lives of America’s farm workers. His photos capture the luminous human spirit behind faces, frames, and personal effects overly constrained by farm labor,” says Dr. Kurt Organista, chair of U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Latino Policy Research, who along with The Kurz Family Foundation and California Rural Legal Assistance, has supplied seed funding and in-kind services to the project. The exhibition is also sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Related programs:

The Migrant Project: Opening Program and Panel Discussion
Photographer Rick Nahmias gives an overview of the exhibition followed by a panel discussion on current migrant worker issues with Jose Padilla, executive director of California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA); Mark Schact, legislative/policy director of CRLA; Kurt Organista, chair of U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Latino Policy Research; and others. Co-presented by California Rural Legal Assistance, and Facing History and Ourselves.
Sept. 17
1–3 p.m.
Koret Auditorium, Main Library

Migrant Writers: Authors Discuss Their Migrant Worker Experience
Heyday Books publisher Malcolm Margolin will moderate a panel discussion with several authors about how the migrant experience influenced their work. Panelists include Gerald Haslam, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, author of Red Dirt: Growing up Okie; Francisco Jimenez, author of The Circuit and Breaking Through; and Rose Castillo Guilbault, author of Farmworker’s Daughter: Growing Up Mexican.
Oct. 26
6 p.m.
Koret Auditorium, Main Library

The exhibition and program are free and open to the public.
For more information, please call (415) 557-4277.
Note: Photos are available for publication.