All the Sacrifices You've Made/Todos los sacrificios que has hecho
The Columbia River courses from the Canadian Rocky Mountains through northeastern Washington and into the Wenatchee Valley, providing life to the apple, cherry, and pear orchards perched along its banks. Further south, the Yakima River flows from the Cascades and is diverted into irrigation canals that quench thirsty asparagus and hops fields scattered across the arid rolling plains. Sagebrush dots the landscape, tracking a path into eastern Washington from the Chihuahuan Desert of northern Mexico and west Texas, much like that of the farm workers who have been coming to the region for generations to work the fields that help feed the nation. Where workers migrate, families grow. Labor, dreams, rituals, aspirations, grief, and celebrations swirl together as they do in all communities.
Over the last two years, Borderland Collective artists Mark Menjivar and Jason Reed worked closely with Luz Inguez, Natalia Esquivel Silva, Orfil Olmos, Gabriela Ruiz, Moises Mendez, and Alondra Torres from CAMP to explore their family albums, photograph their lives, and record oral histories. The pictures were scanned and reproduced, allowing the family to keep the originals in their possession. The resulting pictures, text, video, and audio exhibited are an expression and acknowledgment of the contributions, resilience, joys, and sacrifices made by farm worker families from the eastern Washington agricultural regions of Yakima and Wenatchee.
The full exhibition is currently on display at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, WA through October 2022. Following the exhibition run, the family photographs and accompanying stories will become part of the permanent collection of the Washington State Historical Society.
Subaru | Winter 1994
In this picture, my parents are taking their 6 kids on a drive through the snow at the orchards close to where they lived at the time. My siblings were very fond of that old Subaru and were sad when my dad sold it. My father is the photographer and my mother is seen in the passenger seat. During this time my father was the only one working and maintaining the family because, during the cold seasons, the demand for field workers dramatically decreases.
En esta imagen, mis padres llevan a sus 6 hijos a dar un paseo por la nieve en los huertos cercanos a donde vivían en ese momento. Mis hermanos querían much ese viejo Subaru y estaban tristes cuando mi papá lo vendió. Mi padre es el forógrafo y mi madre se ve en el asiento del pasajero. Durante este tiempo, mi padre era el único que trabajaba y mantenía a la familia porque, durante las estaciones frías, la demanda de trabajadores agrícolas disminuye drásticamente.
From the family archive of Moises Mendez
My Mother, Susana Flores | March 1986
As the small town of Brewster began to welcome a new generation of migrant workers to the area, along with them came their cultural and religious traditions. Here we see three participants and my mother (far left) in the local Catholic church's yearly reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus as part of their Easter holiday celebrations.
Cuando la pequeña ciudad de Brewster comenzó a recibir a una nueva generactión de trabajadores migrantes en el área, junto con ellos llegaron sus tradiciones culturales y religiosas. Aquí vemos a tres participantes y a mi madre (en el extremo izquierodo) en la recreación anual de la crucifixión de Jesús en al inglesia católica local como parte de sus celebraciones de Pascua.
From the family archive of Alondra Torres
Mother & Daughter, Yakima Valley: Farmworkers in Cherry Orchard | 1993
My parents went to visit my aunt in Wapato after Sunday church service. My aunt lives near the orchards and my parents thought it would be nice to take pictures in front of the blooming trees.
Mis padres fueron a visitar a mi tía en Wapato después de la iglesia. Mi tía vive cerca de los huertos y mis padres pensaron que sería bueno tomar fotografías frente a los árboles en flor.
From the family archive of Gabriela Ruiz