Contemporary California Farm Workers’ Lives Chronicled in Art Center Exhibit Nov. 28-Jan. 9

SAN LUIS OBISPO – The lives and struggles of today’s California migrant farm workers will be chronicled in an exhibit, “The Hands That Feed,” to run from Nov. 28 to Jan. 9 at the San Luis Obispo Art Center.

The exhibit is part of the “Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers” project by Los Angeles-area photographer Rick Nahmias. “The Migrant Project” is described as an in-depth photojournalistic portrait detailing the lives and struggles of today's California migrant farm workers.

From spring 2002 through winter 2003, Nahmias traveled up and down the state to over 50 rural communities, photographing the people and recording their stories. This exhibit aims to capture the rarely seen contemporary faces of this mostly cast-off population, as well as speak to the more general issues surrounding the cost of feeding America.

Upwards of one million farm workers pick California's fruits and vegetables, accounting for more than half of our nation’s daily consumption. Still, the farm workers rank among the state's poorest people.

“The Migrant Project” affiliated with the California Council for the Humanities Reading “The Grapes of Wrath” Program.

Nahmias will be welcomed at an opening gala from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, at the San Luis Obispo Art Center at 1010 Broad Street.

The exhibit is being hosted by Cal Poly’s Social Science Club and Social Science Department and the San Luis Obispo Art Center as part of an ongoing effort to promote diversity awareness and education.

For more information about Nahmias and “The Migrant Project,” visit www.themigrantproject.com. For more information about the exhibit, call Cal Poly’s Social Sciences Department at 756-2260.

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