A new exhibit from The LAVA Center.
The LAVA Center premiered its new exhibit, “indiVISIBLE: Seeing and Celebrating Indispensable Agricultural Workers”, in early February. The exhibit was funded in part by an Expand Massachusetts Stories grant.
The project focused on farmworkers, a population rarely heard from. The team, led by Alfonso Herrera-Neal and Lindy Whiton, conducted nine full interviews, in multiple languages. Herrera-Neal’s black and white photography is featured in the exhibit, as is Whiton’s color photography.
Herrera-Neal has also produced five podcasts documenting the project (a sixth one will reflect on what the team learned, and will be published by the end of March).
Whiton led the field research aspect of the indiVISIBLE and the process of distilling hours of interviews into featured quotations.
Among the themes that emerged from the overall collection of interviews are that of Family, Travel, and Land. Specific focus emerged as well on Caribbean history and on multi-generational relationship between seasonal workers and recent generations at Clark Brothers Orchards.
Carol Letson, a resident of Greenfield, says that seeing the exhibit was eye-opening. “I didn’t know members of the community in my area had gone through the things they did,” she said.
The display of indiVISIBLE words and images is available to tour to community centers, schools, and libraries over the coming months. In mid-April, it will be in Ashfield for two weeks, and in May will be featured at The LAVA Center in downtown Greenfield.
The team is currently developing curriculum for secondary and college levels, which will be available on the indiVISIBLE website by March 31.
The LAVA Center is grateful to Mass Humanities for the Expanding Mass Stories grant that is the primary funder of indiVISIBLE. Additional support came from Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice and Greening Greenfield.