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Artist's Statement In the early 1980s there were over 26 labor camps in the Pajaro Valley of Northern California. There was no low-income housing available to the farm workers in this rich agricultural center. The farm owners had dwellings that were condemned or of the crudest nature, that they rented to the workers for over $400 per month. The camps were tucked away on mountain tops, behind fields or in large gatherings of trees, where they could not readily be seen by the public. Many of the dwellings had boarded or no windows, cold concrete floors, and in some cases, only outdoor running water. I photographed at four camps: Camp San Andreas, Murphy's Camp, Buena Vista Camp and Clutch's "Junkyard" Camp. Not speaking Spanish, it was unfortunate that I could not communicate with the people who lived at the camps, except through my translator, Yolanda Jiminez. The Latin peoples of the camp were very kind and responsive to being photographed and opened their homes to us. They were generous, always offering to feed us with what little food they had. Juan Morales, Director of Youth Services in Watsonville at the time, commissioned this documentation of the migrant farm worker camps in 1984. The complete 30 images were displayed at City Hall in Watsonville, the county museum, and at Youth Services' open house where county officials were invited to discuss the issues surrounding housing for the farm workers and children. |
Author: Jana Marcus
Email: jana@janamarcus.com Home Page: www.janamarcus.com Other information: |