July 29, 2011 - December 4, 2011
and January 14 - February 5, 2012
David Bacon and Francisco Dominguez have both followed in the tradition of Depression-era photographers such as Dorothea Lange, focusing their cameras on struggle, dissent, immigrants, and workers. Their photographs speak to the global character of contemporary migration. Like the so-called Okies of the Depression, many of today's migrants have been displaced by environmental degradation and wider economic forces.
The title of this exhibition refers to a sign that 1930s folk musician Woody Guthrie often had on his guitar, "This Machine Kills Fascists." These two photographers build a powerful body of visual evidence of the continuing struggle of workers, migrants, and poor people to survive. In this exhibition the photographers responded to images by Dorothea Lange and selected photographs from their own work that draw close connections between the 1930s and today.
David Bacon is a journalist and photographer who has covered workers struggles in Iraq, Mexico, and the U.S. He is the author of several books including, The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border.
Francisco Dominguez is a photographer and printmaker. His parents both were farm workers. He documents the struggles of indigenous, immigrant, and poor people in black and white photography.
— Art Hazelwood, Guest Curator
Images, left to right: David Bacon, Chualar, CA—20 August 1998—Strikers at D'Arrigo Brothers produce company stop a bus going into the fields carrying strikebreakers early in the morning. The strike came after workers had tried for 22 years to renew the union contract by the United Farm Workers of America., 1998, photogaph, courtesy of the artist. Francisco Dominguez, American River, Piggly Wiggle Man, Homeless, Sacramento, CA, 2000, silver gelatin print, courtesy of the artist.