Undocumented
In Brooklyn, New York, and other cities and towns throughout the USA, Latino workers begin each day at U-Haul and Home Depot parking lots, waiting to secure a couple of hours of paid construction or moving work.
These men are skilled laborers. They have travelled thousands of miles and endure daily discomfort and personal sacrifice in their search for a better life. Many send money home to support their families. Some have started new families in their adopted city. These men have no official status, papers, job security or health insurance. Each day begins anew. They arise and wait with hope that work will appear.
In this series, I attempt to document these workers, to make their presence felt, to depict the inherent strength and dignity of a group of individuals who exist within an economy of chance, making their living via random encounters. I'm also interested in interrogating the historical portrait, through a formal depiction of individuals who remain mostly unseen.
Each worker was paid his hourly rate to sit for a portrait.