Americans are uniquely disconnected from our food. More than 10 percent of the working population is employed in agricultural sectors, but it’s rare for the average person to grapple with—let alone witness—the number of people involved in growing, harvesting, packaging, and ultimately getting dinner onto their plate. Given that many farms, restaurants, and other food-related businesses employ those who are undocumented, these sectors have also been targeted for deportation, further pushing the people who keep them running into the shadows.
For Narsiso Martinez, this essential labor has long been the central point of his practice. The Oaxaca-born artist is known for painting tender portraits on produce boxes, utilizing the discarded packaging as a metaphor for how we assign value. Often working from photos, Martinez depicts people he knows and even worked alongside in the fields when he first migrated to the U.S.
In a recent presentation with Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles, Martinez stacked a collection of strawberry boxes to create a towering, double-sided totem. One side features a masked person clutching a fistful of asparagus, while the other portrays a mechanical picker. Both crops grow low to the ground and require a significant amount of labor to harvest. By including the wheeled device, Martinez draws attention once again to the ways farm labor is often disregarded and the additional depersonalization of the agricultural process when machines replace people.
Other works include an enormous wall-based installation featuring a single worker with a bandana covering his face, the stars and stripes of the American flag distorted as they wrap around his neck. The lenses of his sunglasses reflect a group of people gathered around a full spread, many holding their drinks as if to toast. “In a style informed by 1930s-era Social Realism and heightened through use of found materials, Martinez makes visible the difficult labor and onerous conditions of the ‘American farmworker,’ itself a compromised piece of language owing to the industry’s conspicuous use of undocumented workers,” says a statement from the gallery.
Martinez’s work is on view in Los Encuentros at Ballroom Marfa, which has been extended through March 29. Find more from him on Instagram.
Overall, Martinez’s powerful artwork sheds light on the often unseen and undervalued labor of farmworkers in America. Through his poignant portraits on produce boxes, he brings attention to the struggles and humanity of those who work tirelessly to bring food to our tables.
