These still and video portraits of immigrant and 1st generation Los Angelenos made in the tradition of the “small trades” are intended as a meditation on American belonging and American becoming. I’m curious if the national trope of hard work as a path to economic independence and inclusion is a reality. Is that path open to people-of-color? While I strongly believe the questions about race, work, and access that immigrants face in America today are both urgent and dire, my hope is for this series to, foremost, serve as a document of the lives and contributions these men and women continue to make to our country and to our collective experience.
