Pitt Exhibition Depicts "The Hands that Feed Us"

PITTSBURGH—In California, agriculture, not Hollywood, is king. California farms provide more than 50 percent of the produce consumed in the United States and generate $27 billion in annual revenue, which is more than three times the combined annual domestic box office receipts of the entire U.S. motion picture industry. But without the estimated half million farm laborers whose days begin in darkness and involve long hours of stooped labor under the scorching sun, the state's vital agriculture economy simply could not function. Pitt presents a free public exhibition of the work of photographer, writer, and filmmaker Rick Nahmias April 4-23 in the University's Kimbo Gallery, in the William Pitt Union, 3959 Fifth Ave., Oakland. An Act 48 accredited teacher-training workshop accompanies the exhibition April 11.

The traveling exhibition, titled "The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers," includes 40 black and white photographs shot in towns from Calexico to Sacramento during the 2002 and 2003 harvests. The images are accompanied by bilingual (English and Spanish) descriptions as well as a documentary film, titled "The Hands that Feed Us."

Evocative of the style of the Work Progress Administration's and Farm Security Administration's images of farm workers of the 1930s, Nahmias' photographs depict the daily lives and struggles of California's migrant farm workers. The images have received several awards, including a Congressional citation, and have been profiled on National Public Radio and in the Los Angeles Times. The Migrant Project is an official affiliate exhibition to the California Council for the Humanities' Reading "The Grapes of Wrath" Program.

Despite the cash cow that agriculture is in the state of California, a farm worker's wages rarely amount to more than $10,000 a year, and many live in squalid conditions and travel long hours to work the fields. By making these images available to viewers throughout the country, Nahmias aims to foster a greater sense of identification with migrant workers, a poor and exploited segment of society.

Visitors are invited to meet Nahmias at an April 10 open house from 2 to 6 p.m. in the Kimbo Gallery. At a teacher-training workshop the following day, Nahmias will discuss his motivation for documenting the lives of migrant workers and his personal journey while creating the photographs on display. The professional development workshop for educators takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Room 542 of the William Pitt Union. The free workshop has been approved for five Act 48 contact hours. Funds are available to reimburse schools or school districts for substitute teachers for the day. Registration for the workshop must be received by April 4. For more information on the teacher-training workshop or to register, call 412-648-7572.

Kimbo Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Friday,

10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday, noon-5 p.m.

The exhibition and accompanying teacher-training workshop are sponsored by the Pennsylvania Ethnic Heritage Studies Center, an educational outreach program of Pitt's University Center for International Studies (UCIS) in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the Center for Latin American Studies within UCIS.

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