TRJ How has this project changed the way you think about food and the farming industry? BF The Central Valley provides 25% of fruits, nuts, and vegetables for our whole country. They’re feeding everybody. If that were to disappear tomorrow, food prices would quadruple, right? It’s so easy to not realize how much labor goes into what we eat until you’ve been in a field and realized how much labor goes into even a raisin. These guys are in the 100-degree heat, sweating to get this little piece of fruit. You just have no comprehension of it. I grew up with my little box of raisins. I just never would ever, ever really think — even coming from a labor background — you don’t really get how intense and hard it is to do farm work. I look at the vegetables in the supermarket much differently because I’ve been there, and I’ve seen how fast, hard, and good at their jobs folks are, and I couldn’t do it. We expect now to get lettuce that’s fresh, clean, and perfect in every way. The hands that are on that are just excellent at what they do. You just don’t think about it. It just magically appears, right? But I don’t have any way of looking at it now other than through that lens because I’ve seen it so much and I just have a much different level of respect for that world.
One of the biggest problems in these areas is getting labor, getting folks that will do the work. Even with the porous border, they don’t have enough people. The farms get hit harder than anyone when there are crackdowns on migrant labor. Believe me, none of us are trying to do that work. So I don’t know what the supposed solution is to that. When folks are just acting like we can live without these folks, I’m like, “Really, are you gonna go do the work?” Because I’m not. That work is hard, miserable. It’s brutal. It’s dangerous.
TRJ That disconnect seems to fuel a lot of the anti-immigrant mentality in this country because people don’t That’s true. understand how migrant laborers are doing the jobs Americans won’t do. BF Talk to any farm owner. They could be the biggest and most “build the wall” right-wing evangelical, like, you know, “We need strict borders.” And then, at the same time, they will say, “Americans will not do this work.” So to think that you can survive without those folks is absolutely wrong. It isn’t possible. There is no large- scale agriculture in this country without those folks. It doesn’t exist, right?
Pack house workers package stone fruit in the Central Valley.
Migrant workers’ children play ball to pass
time while their parents harvest the surrounding
grapes in Arvin, CA.
This is the same camp from the novel, “Grapes of Wrath.”
When see themselves reflected in that way, hopefully, they feel something. That’s the main purpose of all our music, painting, whatever, literature. It’s just to get people to feel something and to feel something regardless of their background. Everybody can feel art. I want to regift the work to these places. They gifted me their time and access, so I want to provide them with an experience where they can feel something for the investment that they gave me. folks
TRJ What’s next for the project? Are there more chapters coming? BF You know, I don’t know if there will be. I’m hoping to bring the work to the Valley, and I want to also bring the work to Mexico. I want to show it in places that are a bit outside the box, and that would have direct reach to people who wouldn’t normally get to see it and help them interact with the work and also see themselves reflected.
HOW YOU CAN HELP Frank passionately supports organizations dedicated to the well-being and rights of migrant workers. His chosen charities focus on providing essential healthcare, legal aid, and advocacy to improve the lives of these often- overlooked communities.
FRESNO BUILDING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES fresnobhc.org
CULTIVA LA SALUD cultivalasalud.org
You can see more of Frank’s work on his website — BRIANFRANKPHOTO.COM
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ISSUE 01
THE EDEN PROJECT
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