WORKING AMERICA
PROJECT STATEMENT: Walking and driving every day in my native Los Angeles, I look around and see an economically thriving microcosm of a multiracial, immigrant America. The Armenian-American shoemaker, the Korean-American tailor, the Mexican-American machine operator working the late shift in the last zipper factory left in the country. As the great-grandson of Eastern-European Jewish immigrants, I can’t help but think of 2019 Los Angeles as a contemporary analog to my forebears’ late 19th Century experience in Chicago and Boston. Not long after arriving in the U.S., my great-grandparents did garment piecework and sold sewing supplies. A hundred years and three generations later, through hard work and access to education, they were able to forge a path to stability and wealth, affording me the privilege to pursue a career as an artist whose job it is to examine, reflect and comment on American culture.
It’s with my great-grandparents in mind that I’ve come to question how, in light of recent anti-immigrant rhetoric stoking wide debate
across the U.S., their story might still be relevant today. Inspired by their work in the garment industry, I decided to consider immigrant-Americans and first-generation Americans through the lens of the “small trades,” re-engaging with the historical portrait approach that masters of photography Eugéne Atget, August Sander, and Irving Penn used to study national identity, work, and class in their own times.
To that end, I intend “Working America” to be a meditation on American belonging and American becoming. I’m curious if the national trope of hard work as a path to economic independence and inclusion is a reality. Is that path open to people-of-color? While I strongly believe the questions about race, work, and access that immigrants face in America today are both urgent and dire, my hope is for this series to, foremost, serve as a document of the lives and contributions these men and women continue to make to our country and to our collective experience.
“Opportunity comes and you got to grab it, and don't let it go.”
Antonio
Ranch Hand
Chris: “It’s frustrating that we’re still considered immigrants because we’re just... American.”
Jenny: “I don’t think it matters if you're born here or not. We all just want to have a small place here that belongs to us.”
Chris (Left) & Jenny (Right)
Booksellers
“There’s a lot of hate. Once you’re here, it gets harder.”
Cynthia | Chef/server
“I’m from here, but I feel more Mexican than American. ”
Jesus | Dishwasher
Bryan: “I just don’t want to be asking for help when I know I can do it.”
Nestor: “We all contribute to the country, so in a way, we’re all Americans.”
Bryan (Left,) Jean Carlos, & Nestor (Right) | Carpet washers
“For me, the most important thing is to help people.”
Gevorg | Orthopedic shoemaker
“The idea of loving your neighbors and sharing the wealth with people is important to me. I think of the U.S. as a country built upon this idea, and so I love the U.S.”
Young | Tailor
“I just kept weaving right here for 42 years. It's my first job, and probably my last one. I’ll just keep going until my life ends.”
Pascual | Furniture caner
“I know that I'm an American: I don't care what other people think an American is or not.”
Hisham | Set electrician
“People don’t understand not being able to go home, not being able to see our family.”
Antonio | Zipper painter
“There is no anti-immigrant situation that I've seen here. Companies have always been raided. It's not the first time.”
Greg | Sauerkraut & pickle maker
“If we are forced to leave this country, what will happen to our children?”
Evangelina | Zipper machine operator
“Every chance you get, you have to dedicate 100%.”
Alejandro | Baker
“Anti-immigrant sentiment? I’ve seen a lot in my life, and I think there's just a lot of talk right now. ”
Everardo | Furniture caner
“I started with nothing and I built it up.”
Charles | Art framer
“I would have liked to have another job, to study, to know more English. ”
Mario | Baker
“The best experience that we’ve left for our children is to help them focus. Be the best representation of this country. ‘Behave well, educate yourselves’, that’s what we tell them, ‘push yourself for the good of the country.’”
Concepción | Florist
“I realized only in America do we have so many immigrants -- I never felt like I didn't belong here.”
Lana | Esthetician
“I don't think my children will follow in my footsteps.”
Erick | Vacuum repairman
“You can still succeed by doing your best, working, doing as the law requires. We have always done so.”
Miguel | Power tool mechanic
“What we need to do is pray to God for the President’s enlightenment, for Him to change his heart.”
Esthela | Zipper machine operator
“America I think comes with immi-grants. If immi-grants won’t come, you must buy one apple for $20.”
Hamo | Cabinet maker
“When I got here, we were barely heard. But now I think the voice of the immigrant is even louder than before. All the politicians are talking about us. They see how we are coming together. We have a voice in this country.”
Byron | Horse groom
“I think as an outsider I can see certain things more clearly than people who grew up here, because we all have blind spots.”
Marco | Scenic backdrop painter
“We are working on not only making money here, but helping others. That is my duty, I believe, with what God has given to us.”
Sharon | Landscaping tool repair shop owner
“Especially in [restaurants,] you can really see that structure -- of whoever is Hispanic, where they work, and whoever is white -- where they work.”
Boris | Waiter
“I don’t think we’re doing anything bad. It’s that we want work. We need to live. We’re looking for a better life.”
Camilo | Ranch manager
“The example I set is being responsible, at both my work and at home; responsibility, in a word. That’s how you get by.”
Rubén | Machine operator