Pictures exhibit at Shields Library highlights historical past and livelihoods of Northern California farmworkers

UC Davis Labor and Community Center presents new David Bacon assortment

By SAVANNAH ANNO — [email protected]

On view from Sept. 13 to Dec. 14, Shields Library will likely be exhibiting “In Camps, Under Trees and Evicted: Farmworkers Living Close to the Line in Northern California,” a set of just about 90 images taken by union organizer and photojournalist David Bacon. 

The exhibition is a product of the UC Davis Labor and Community Center of the Greater Capital Region (UCDLCC), a subgroup of the UC Davis School of Law, co-directed by Professor of Law Leticia Saucedo and Professor Emeritus Robyn Magalit Rodriguez. 

“We were established to develop labor-centered, community-engaged, policy-relevant research, education and public programming that serves the labor movement and social justice struggles in Northern California,” Saucedo mentioned. “We were fortunate to be able to collaborate with documentary journalist David Bacon [on this exhibit], who shares our values and mission, and who has been documenting the struggles of farmworkers for over 35 years.”

Raised in Oakland by a mom and father who had been labor union organizers themselves, Bacon grew to become accustomed to labor struggles and actions at a younger age, in keeping with a 2019 interview with People’s World. After discovering a job in a printing manufacturing unit, Bacon started to prepare his very first union — a worker-led group created to self-advocate for higher work situations, honest wages and total secure remedy from their employers. 

Bacon continued this work for over a decade, and it wasn’t till the Nineteen Eighties that he started to take images. 

“The beginning was utilitarian in a way — to publicize strikes, give prints to people on the picket line to take home to their families,” Bacon mentioned through the People’s World interview. “Then I began to realize that the photographs themselves had a meaning beyond what I was using them for, in that they were a documentation, especially at that point, of the changing demographics of the workforce.” 

Transitioning into extra photojournalist work, Bacon was first tasked with documenting the United Farm Workers (UFW), probably the most well-known labor unions within the nation. Founded within the Sixties, UFW continues to work to guard farmers by means of advocacy, sponsoring labor legal guidelines and selling training. 

“In Camps, Under Trees and Evicted: Farmworkers Living Close to the Line in Northern California” works to commemorate not solely Bacon’s work as a photojournalist, however the effort and each day lives of farmworkers throughout generations. Making its first cease at Shields Library, the UCDLCC hopes to carry the gathering of just about 100 images to varied areas throughout the United States. Prior to his exhibition at UC Davis, Bacon’s work has additionally been featured at different University of California campuses, the Museum of Mexico City, the Oakland Museum of California and even varied areas throughout Europe. 

Chronicling tales that span a interval of 35 years, Bacon goals to humanize farmworkers, bringing their tales to audiences who he feels might typically take them without any consideration. California alone staff roughly 500,000 to 800,000 farmworkers annually, with over 90% of them figuring out as Hispanic. 

“It was especially important to highlight the lived experiences of farmworkers on our campus because Davis is located in and around many of the workplaces we see in the photos,” Saucedo mentioned. “We thought the exhibit might be a powerful way to include the voices of workers in our campus conversations, and we hope it exposes UC Davis students to different ways to engage with the realities of worker experiences.” 

While farmworkers are answerable for rising and harvesting the meals we devour day by day — not just for Californians, however for our whole nationwide and world populations — Bacon’s images present their labor being rewarded with hostile dwelling situations, low wages and a life on the outskirts of society. Longer descriptions all through the exhibition function organizers’ speeches, condemning unfair remedy and socioeconomic disparities whereas preventing for fundamental human rights. 

Bacon’s work paperwork farmworkers in varied cities and cities, from Sonoma to Healdsburg to Fresno, as they work, relaxation and manage. Each {photograph} description consists of the topic’s title and hometown, with employees coming from not simply Mexico, however Guatemala, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. Honoring the farmworkers’ variety, every label and outline throughout the exhibition is translated into English, Spanish and Tagalog. 

Out of the a whole lot of hundreds of California farmworkers, over 70% are undocumented immigrants. As a end result, a lot of Bacon’s protection of UFW and farmworkers’ strikes has overlapped with immigrant rights actions. Along together with his images, Bacon has authored a number of books and articles surrounding undocumented employees, the affect of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on life alongside the U.S.-Mexico Border, transnational communities and extra. 

Bacon goals to plant seeds and concepts together with his images. If he can make clear the actual folks behind these actions and the way authorities insurance policies are impacting them, Bacon believes their tales will have the ability to encourage tangible change. 

“If we’re going to talk about immigration laws or migration or the workplace, let’s look at who’s there,” Bacon mentioned. “What do those situations look like? Let’s listen to the people who are there, and then try and figure out what to do based on that. […] So now what [I’m] trying to do is to draw a picture of the world, or part of it, in an accurate way, in a fair way.” 

Today, farmworkers proceed to face poverty, mistreatment from employers, ineffective heat-safety laws and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Still, as Bacon highlights by means of his pictures, they proceed to construct communities, help their households, have fun their tradition and manage for a brighter future. 

“We’re hoping that the exhibition demonstrates the ongoing nature of farmworker experiences, [along with] their resilience,” Saucedo mentioned. “While the photos span 35 years, they capture not just the past, but the present, lived experiences of some of our neighbors. They provide examples for the current atmosphere of uncertainty in immigrant communities throughout the region and the state and worker responses.” 

While the exhibition is on view, Bacon may also be working in partnership with the UCDLCC to host an upcoming photojournalism workshop on Nov. 12. During the workshop, Bacon will take college students by means of his documentary journalism course of and talk about the way it’s advanced into his present-day profession. The workshop will happen at Shields Library and an upcoming registration hyperlink will change into out there by means of the UCDLCC’s website in October. 

“The Labor Center’s mission is to disseminate information about the issues that working people face through research, scholarship and programming, but also through art and the documentary process,” Saucedo mentioned. “We’re really fortunate that David Bacon agreed to work with us on this inaugural programming because it exemplifies the marriage between art and documentation that is necessary to tell enduring stories about workers in our state.”

Written by: Savannah Anno — [email protected]